Through Hell and High Water
by Jaden Meitzer
Summary: After the events of New York, Bruce Banner meets Alexandria Stark, Tony's younger sister. How far will they go to protect each other? And will Aly be able to save a man who thinks he can't be saved? Bruce/OC
1. What Happened in New York

' _What a Goddamn mess!'_ Thought SHIELD director Nick Fury as he surveyed the chaotic scene in front of him, trademark scowl on his face. A warzone that had earlier that day been a scenic street in Midtown Manhattan. The Helicarrier had just docked, and was currently undergoing an evaluation of the extensive repairs it would need.

Stark Tower stood, tall and gleaming in the skyline. The S,T,R, and K had been taken down in the fight, so now a huge A stood tall on the crest of the tower, which Fury found ironic, considering his team was beginning to call themselves the Avengers, after the initiative that had brought them all together.

Coulson's voice cut through the confusion, as always he sounded just about on the brink of hysteria.

"Hey, you can't be here! Hey!"

Fury looked up to see a hooded figure, decidedly female, marching towards him, shoulders set in a determined way. As the figure drew closer, he noticed the figure was dressed in skinny jeans, a pair of black converse, and a heavy green jacket with a fur-lined hood. As the figure approached, small hands pulled down the hood, allowing long, violently red ringlets to tumble down past the woman's elbows. She had a pretty, heart-shaped face and chocolate brown eyes that looked oddly familiar.

"Are you in charge here?" she demanded, fixing Fury with a glare that unsettled him for a moment.

"Yes, I'm Nick Fury, I'm the head of-"Fury began, but the redhead cut across him.

"Save it, I know you're SHIELD. My name is Alexandria Stark, and I want to see my brother, Tony."

"Mr. Stark is on our carrier with the rest of the team, He'll return home after he's been cleared by medical and debriefed." Fury turned to leave.

"That wasn't a request, Fury." She spat at him, catching up to him quickly, which was quite the feat, seeing as the girl topped out at five feet tall at the most.

Fury whirled around, already at the end of his rope with this pushy girl.

"Listen, Alexandria. After the day I've had, you don't want to be pushing my buttons." He said

"Oh, I am so sorry. Did your brother nearly kill himself to save the world? No? Didn't think so. And by the way, it's Aly." The girl said indignantly, crossing her arms.

Fury pinched the bridge of his nose. He had a feeling this headache wasn't going to fade easy.

"I'm going to say this, one more time." Aly continued, "Let me see my brother. Now."

"You've seen what he's been doing on TV. You know what he's been through." Fury said, trying to soften his tone. While he might not have experienced what Aly was going through, procedures were in place for the safety of civilians and personnel. It wasn't a matter of wanting her to see Tony. He had already crossed several lines with the council today. If they knew he'd allowed a civilian on the Helicarrier, they'd have his job.

"He's. My. BROTHER." Aly yelled

"Then you'll wait for him." Fury said with an air of finality in his voice.. Aly thought for just a moment, looking Fury up and down. Taking the conversation as being over, Fury began walking away, gesturing to the two agents closest to him to escort the petite girl off of the Helicarrier. Aly, however, seemed to have other ideas and began to follow.

"Tony may be a wiz with mechanics, but my major was biochemistry, with a focus on the human anatomy." She said. "In other words," she reached up with two fingers and applied pressure to a muscle in Fury's neck. It made his legs weaken. As he started to fall, Aly pulled him back and pushed him against the glass wall. "I can beat you and anyone who stands in my way." Fury noticed Agent Hill standing in the doorway, a hand on her gun, waiting for Fury's word.

"Drop him, now!" An agent yelled. Soldiers and agents all around drew their guns, aiming at Aly. Maria hid a smirk.

"You are going to let me see my brother. Or else you're taking a long trip down to New York." Aly said.

Fury sighed and spun around. He knocked Aly off balance, and the next thing she knew, she was in the same position she'd had Fury in just seconds before. He studied her for a moment, but she didn't back down under Fury's hawk-like glare. Seeming to make a decision, He keyed his earpiece. "Be advised we have a civilian in the Helicarrier. Be aware, she only wishes to see Stark, but keep an eye on her the entire time. She is a Stark too, so keep her away from all computers and personal barracks. Especially mine." He said.

Maria snorted, trying to hold back her laughter. "Can I be her escort?" She asked. One glare sobered her up. "Sir?"

Fury nodded, and Hill gestured for Aly to follow her. They passed what Aly expected was the bridge, where many agents were busily working on their computers. They turned down a hallway, and passed a sign that said "Detention Level"

Aly shuddered, knowing that was where _he_ was being held. Loki. The one who'd started all of this. A quiet malice emanated from that hallway. The only signs of life she noticed coming from that hallway came in the way of a tall, blond, muscle-bound man clad in armor. Had Aly not been so wrapped up in worry for her brother, she would have noticed that this man was beautiful.

"He's in here." Hill pointed at a sliding glass door. Through the door, she could see her brother sitting on a table, attempting to pry off his red-and-gold armor and having little success.

Aly shook her head, a smile wide across her face.

"You'd think it'd be easy for Tony Stark to take his clothes off." She said as the door slid open.

"I'm pretty sure my shins have been welded to the metal," Tony said, not noticing just who it was that came in to see him. "I've been tinkering with the idea of projectile armor that can fly to me when I want it to."

"Sounds like for that you might need more than just a mechanical mind." Aly said, walking closer.

"Mhm." Tony said, holding one screwdriver in his mouth while twisting the second at his wrist.

"Like maybe, the mind of a biochemist?" Aly suggested

"Hm." Tony paused looking up, but not at her.

"Like maybe... Your sister?"

Tony slowly turned to see Aly. The screwdriver in his mouth fell out. Aly caught it but made a disgusted sound when she felt his spit along the handle. Tony smiled and held out his arms.

"Aly!" He said. He put his arms down. "On second thought, might not want to hug me. I could be radioactive."

"Really?" Aly asked, wiping the spit off with a sleeve of her hoodie. She lifted up his leg to start unscrewing his boot. Tony was thrown onto his back by this action.

"I saw everything Tony." Aly said,trying to keep a steady voice.

"Yeah." He replied, continuing the work on his wrist. "I would have called you, but I wanted to call Pepper first. You know. I love you though. It's not your birthday, is it? I don't know. I was knocked out and then we won and Arrrgggh!" Aly tightened the screw at his heel, tightening the pressure that wrapped around it.

"Shut up." She said before loosening the screw again

"That's my Baby Sis." Tony groaned as Aly succeeded in prying the boot off of her brother's leg. She allowed the twisted metal to clang to the ground. "Such a sweet, nonviolent girl."

Aly smiled sweetly at her older brother and shrugged off her jacket, tossing it on an unoccupied chair. She pulled her hair into a messy bun and pulled a pair of black-framed glasses out of her pocket.

"That's me, bro. Want some help getting the rest of this off?" She gestured at the shoulder plates and breastplate still on Tony.

Tony sighed and nodded his assent. The redhead pulled a chair over and Tony slid off the table to sit in it. Aly perched herself on the table, the better to have leverage to pry the armor off.

Just then, the door opened, and a man with prematurely graying dark hair and dark eyes entered the room, a bewildered expression crossing his features.

Bruce Banner was used to trying to blend in. He had been hiding, terrified, for so long. Hell, he hadn't even planned on staying in Kolkata for as long as he had. The people there had needed him, though, and he had enjoyed the feeling of helping people.

Here, though, with SHIELD, people didn't seem to fear him anymore. Agents he'd never met before were grinning at him and telling him he was a hero, he wasn't sure, but one female agent may have invited him for drinks.

He finally made it back to the relative safety of the lab he'd shared with Tony Stark. Stark was sitting on a chair in front of one of their lab tables. Perched on the table behind him was a petite young woman with bright red hair wearing square-framed glasses, skinny jeans, converse sneakers and a black Sex Pistols T-Shirt.

"Oh, you're back, Big Guy!" Tony said brightly. Bruce gave his usual wry smile and shrugged.

"Uhh…yeah…" Bruce said, eyeing the redhead warily as she stared at him, hand still gripping a screwdriver in midair, halfway between her and the plate on Tony's shoulder. "I can come back if you're…" he trailed off, for some reason unable to take his eyes off the fiery redhead. She continued to stare at him, dumbstruck.

"Banner, you have a dirty mind!" Tony exclaimed, wiggling his eyebrows and grinning like a Cheshire Cat. Bruce rolled his eyes at this. "She's my sister, big guy. Bruce Banner, meet Alexandria Stark."

At this point, Alexandria dropped the screwdriver she'd been holding. It clattered to the floor and rolled under a lab table.

"No." she said, eyes wide. "Not _the_ Bruce Banner? The famous physicist? I referenced your research in my dissertation!" She jumped off the table and rushed over to him, hand outstretched.

"Dr. Alexandria Stark. Biochemist and this idiot's sister." She gestured at Tony. Bruce snickered and shook her hand.

"Nice to meet you." He said, surprising himself by giving her a genuine smile.

Looking back, both Aly and Bruce would consider this moment, their first meeting, as a turning point in their lives. They couldn't quite put their fingers on it, but they both had a feeling that this was the beginning of something, but good or bad, no one knew quite yet.


	2. Much Ado about Nothing

"A _NUCLEAR BOMB!?_ " Aly roared, brown eyes narrowed and glaring daggers at her brother. It had been two weeks since the battle with the Chitauri. Aly and Tony had begun simply calling it "New York." The entire team knew what they meant.

The whole of the Avengers was currently in a conference room in a secret SHIELD facility, as Fury had called them all in for debriefing. He'd called Aly in because he assumed (correctly) that Tony would tell Aly whatever she wanted to know anyway. Bruce sat in one of the swivel chairs, watching the brother and sister duo,who had been arguing for the past twenty minutes. The rest of the team had left as soon as the bickering started, but Bruce had stayed just to ensure no blood was shed. The debriefing had long since ended, and Aly had found out the full details of the battle. Namely that her older brother had flown a nuke into a wormhole and nearly died.

"What else was I supposed to do, let it fry Manhattan?" Tony responded shortly, popping a dried blueberry into his mouth. Aly was nearly beside herself with rage that her brother had kept this from her. She'd known she'd come close to losing him, but not this close. "You're TONY FREAKING STARK! You could've figured something out you _fils imbécile stupide de pute_!" Tony's eyes widened at the insult. Even Bruce picked his head up at the sudden outburst in French.

"You speak French?" he asked in surprise.

"Only when she's angry. She and I learned it when we were younger so our mom never caught us swearing." Tony explained.

"Stupid _cabron_." Aly muttered under her breath. Bruce looked even more taken aback. Tony gave him a mock-happy smile.

"Yeah. My sister can cuss me out in about seven different languages, plus sign language." Aly glared, giving him the universal sign language for "fuck you." The sight nearly made Bruce burst out laughing because it was such a contrast to the outfit she'd chosen to wear that day. She wore tight black jeans and knee-high combat boots with a dark gray shirt under a black blazer. On the T-Shirt was a bright yellow smiley face a la Sherlock.

"Sibling rivalries aside, are you both quite done yet?" Fury asked, walking into the room, black leather duster flaring dramatically behind him. Just outside the doors were the others, waiting to hear his screams of pain, or the admittance of peace amongst the Starks.

"Because if not, I do have some medicine designed by Dr. Banner to slow and calm the heart rate."

"I'm still testing it though. It could nearly kill whoever ingests it." Bruce piped up with a rueful smile, standing at his seat. Fury briefly closed his eye. That sounded like it would do the trick in shutting the Starks up. Whatever kept his migraine from growing.

"Yeah, Aly!" said Tony, walking around the table. "Can you stop going all 'Mother of Dragons' on me?"

Aly reluctantly allowed a small smile to play across her lips. "You know nothing, Jon Snow."

"What just happened?" Steve said, just as Bruce let out a chuckle.

The rest of the Avengers all filed in after their Captain. All of them took their own seats at the table, waiting to hear more from their one-eyed director.

"Whatever, I can't deal with this anymore." Aly said, then turned on her heel and stalked out of the room, the door opening and closing with a pneumatic hiss. Captain Rogers got up to follow, but Thor stopped him.

"No, Steve, Lady Stark must have some time alone." The Asgardian said with a slight shake of his head.

They looked up, however, when the door closed once again, and they noticed that Bruce's seat was now empty.

Aly stalked into the parking garage, making a beeline for Tony's shiny silver Audi. She was beyond stressed. Watching the footage during the debriefing had really brought home the fact that her brother had been very close to dying. She reached into her blazer pocket and pulled out the pack of Camels she'd brought with her, along with a lighter. perching herself on the Audi's hood, she lit up and took a drag, allowing the nicotine to calm her nerves. She only ever smoked when she was extremely stressed, and boy was she ever. She took an almost vindictive pleasure in ashing her cigarette on Tony's pristine paint job.

"You know that's really bad for you." A voice pointed out. Aly was slightly surprised to see Bruce walking towards her.

"Yeah, but it's also bad for Tony's car." Aly countered, repeating the motion.

Bruce sighed and leaned against the car, right next to Aly.

"Look. I know you're upset." He said

"I am beyond the point of upset, okay?" Aly said, "I am furious! I feel like I could throw a car or, or break windows, or, or, just... Just-!"

"Smash everything in sight?" Bruce quietly added, looking down at his hands. It was then Aly realized where this conversation was going, and the effect it was having on Bruce. She regretted it immediately. Especially after seeing the pain and sadness on his face. He looked up at her.

"Everybody gets angry. Sometimes it's just hard to control." Bruce said

"How... How do you control it?" Aly asked tentatively.

Bruce shrugged. "I don't. Instead, I aim it away from civilians, friends, family, I keep just one goal in mind."

"What is it?" Aly asked in a hushed tone, leaning in as if to hear a secret.

"Protect them. At all costs." Bruce said, a serious expression on his face.

"Also," Bruce said with a sardonic smile, trying to lighten the mood. "Don't spoil the newest episode of _Game of Thrones_ , I'm not caught up, what with the alien army attacking and stuff."

Aly actually laughed out loud at that one. "I just wish the team could go to Westeros and teach Joffrey a lesson...or beat the crap out of him, whatever "

"Why not both?" Bruce asked with a grin."I don't even think the Other Guy would need to be there..." Bruce trailed off, seemingly realizing what he'd said.

Aly was slightly surprised at the mentioning of the "other guy", but not enough to discuss it further. Not after the previous conversation they'd had. She snuffed out the cigarette, grounding the butt against Tony's car, and put the rest of the pack away. Aly cleared her throat and stood.

"We should probably go back to the debriefing." She said. With a nod of agreement, Bruce followed her as they returned from whence they came. When they arrived back at the conference room Tony looked at her, then at the rest of the team.

"Speak of the devil." He said

"And the devil shall appear."Aly said with a smile and a flourish of her hand.

"We thought you and the doctor had eloped to Mexico " Hawkeye said with a grin.

"Actually, we were planning on eloping to Hawaii, so that's what you know, Legolas." Aly retorted. Tony made a mental note that his sister seemed in a much better mood than she had been. He also caught the distinctive smell of cigarette smoke wafting from her.

"My car has burn marks now, doesn't it?" He asked in a resigned sort of voice.

"Oh Tony, you know me too well." Aly said, stepping forward to give her big brother a kiss on the cheek. Looking at Fury she said "are we done here?"

"There is still one question you have yet to answer, Aly." he asked, fixing her with a stern glare. "How the hell did you find our Helicarrier when billions went into making the cloaking technology? Hell, even the president has to sign an executive order for us to give him reports."

This question caught Aly off guard. Tony picked up the subtle body language, the slight stiffening of the shoulders, the pursing of the lips, and the flaring of the nostrils. Clint and Natasha picked up on it, too, being well trained in their field.

Only Tony had an inkling of what his sister's hesitance meant, though. He sighed and rolled his eyes.

"It was her, wasn't it?" He asked her pointedly.

"Well... Yeah. Just a little help, you know?" Aly said sheepishly, a nervous smile on her face.

"Care to share with the rest of the non-genius class?" Steve asked

"I may or may not have a friend who is a wiz at tech for communications, tracking and finding, and connections with NASA." Aly admitted, trying hard not to meet Steve's eyes.

"Sounds like an ally surely useful on the battlefield." Thor said, attempting to reassure her.

"I second that." Clint said, raising his hand.

"That kind of technology is too useful to fall into the wrong hands. Might be better to have them on our side, then on the opposite." Natasha said in her normal, bored voice. Everyone looked at her. It was the first time anyone had heard her speak since the earlier debriefing when she'd given her report in a clipped, businesslike monotone.

"But I don't want her." Tony whined like a child. Aly rolled her eyes and pulled out the highly modified iPhone she'd received from Tony last Christmas, speed dialing the number of her best friend in the whole world, Melissa.

"Hey Mels, it's Al- Oh! Sorry..." No one could hear the other end of the conversation, but judging by the eye roll and the wince that Aly gave, it was clear she was being chastised. "I know, texting is better now... Okay. I will after we're done. Bye."

She hung up, looking at the rest of the team. "I interrupted her vlogging. I need to text her first." she explained. Seeing Steve's confused expression, she explained further. "Vlogging is basically a video-diary. She's Youtube famous, or so she keeps reminding me every _gorram_ day."

"All that tech, and she runs a vlog?" Tony snorted, suddenly amused by the situation.

"Hey, after her program ended at NASA, she had to find something to do with her spare time." Aly explained with a shrug, her fingers tapping quickly on the phone.

"Do we really need to call her in?" Tony whined again with the air of a petulant child being forced to eat his broccoli.

"Don't worry, dumbass, i don't like the idea of working with you either." A voice came through the room's speaker system. Tony jumped and whirled around, just in time to see a grinning face appeared on the vid screen. Her blond frizzy hair had streaks of pink and blue. She adjusted her glasses and sat back in her seat. She was wearing a red hoodie and pajama pants.

"Honestly, I should have just texted back, but this was too good. I needed to see this in person. I saw you all on the news!" Mel gushed "You're all superheroes! It was sooo cool to watch. Oh, and I guess you did a good job too, Tony." Mel knew she had to be serious, professional, but seeing these heroes, in semi-person, she was having a slight nerd freak out.

"Also." she said, pointing a finger at Tony. "I don't have time to talk, but if you want to discuss my work, dumbass knows where I live. I know you do!" she glared and pressed a button off screen, cutting off the video feed.

"I like her." Clint said with a smirk. Natasha's lips quirked up in just the barest hint of a smile. Aly actually raised her eyes at that one. She had, up until now, thought the pretty Russian had been suffering from a debilitating case of Permanent Resting Bitch Face.

"You heard her, Tony, better go see her. But she doesn't like you, so you might want to bring Thor and Steve, to serve as a distraction." Aly said, her grin widening to resemble the Cheshire cat. "Plus, it's Mels or that Parker kid, and I know how much you like him." Aly's grin widened as she mentioned one of the high school kids she and Melissa mentored. Peter Parker was smart, resourceful, and also never lost an opportunity to help Aly prank Tony.

"Besides. It may be an asset to us to have someone who's not necessarily on SHIELD's payroll on our team." Natasha piped up. Clearly, this closed the matter, and Tony groaned and walked towards the door. Thor, Hawkeye, and Steve followed shortly after, with Clint losing no time in calling "Shotgun!"

Aly rolled her eyes. Natasha made a comment about going to train, and that just left Aly and Bruce by themselves in the conference room. Aly glanced at Bruce before making up her mind.

"Screw this, you wanna go grab something to eat? I know a really great diner over in Queens we could go to, it's on the way back to Stark Tower." She asked, jerking her head towards the door.

Bruce shrugged. "What the hell, why not?"

Aly smiled and led the way to the parking garage. She dug a set of car keys out of her blazer pocket and pushed the unlock button on the keyless entry. Bruce's eyes widened at the car who's headlights flashed.

 _"That's_ your car?" he said in awe. It was a shiny black Range Rover with black tinted windows. Aly grinned with pride at her truck.

"Yep, that's my baby." she said, getting into the driver's seat. "Oh and, by the way. I have one rule in my car. Call it a House Rule, if you will."

"What's that?" Bruce asked, slightly nervously as he slid into the passenger seat. Aly gave him a playful smile as "Uptown Funk" by Mark Ronson and Bruno Mars began thumping through the truck's high-end speakers.

"Driver picks the music." Aly said, pointing to herself and throwing the Range Rover into gear. She loved hearing the roar of the engine. "Shotgun shuts his cakehole." With that, she stepped on the gas, guiding the truck out of the secret parking garage.

* * *

 **Hey, sorry for the delay in updating! So much has been going on in the world of Jaden, lol. Hope you enjoyed my blatant references here. also, some translations:**

 _fils imbécile stupide de pute:_ Stupid dumbass son of a bitch!

 _Cabron: Fucker_

 _Gorram_ (If you've watched Firefly, you'll recognize this one, but if not...) God Damn

 **So please review! Any constructive criticism is ok, flames will, as always, be publicly mocked.**


	3. I'm Friends with the Monster

"A girl who had the technology to find the cloaked Helicarrier and used to work at NASA has by all accounts got to be a genius," Steve said disbelievingly as he read the tablet in his hands. On the screen was a summary of everything SHIELD knew about one Melissa Lutz.

"Not entirely. She finished MIT behind me and Aly." Tony said with a dismissive shrug as he guided the Audi through the streets of Brooklyn. The bad part of Brooklyn.

"Genius or not, who would willingly live in this squalor?" Thor asked, eyes widening as he took in the sight before him.

They had stopped at a dilapidated old apartment building. The bricks, once red, had aged to an ugly brown. One side of the building was covered in graffiti. The area surrounding the building looked dingy and dark. Basically, it was nothing you would expect someone who'd worked for NASA to live in.

"I'm going in." Tony said, as though steeling himself for battle, "You guys, make sure nobody steals."

"Make sure nobody steals what?" Thor asked, confused.

"Anything." Tony gestured around him, exiting the car. He heard another car door slam behind him. Clint had decided to join him. He sighed and entered the dingy, shabby lobby. Behind the peeling yellow desk was a tired old woman.

"Can I help you?" She asked with a sigh and a raised eyebrow.

"Can you tell us where we might find Melissa Lutz?" Tony asked resignedly, taking off his blue-tinted sunglasses.

* * *

Amidst a hodge-podge collection of toys, action figures, and a queen sized bed, Melissa Lutz, or Mels, was vlogging on her computer.

"Alright, True Believers, this is my first vlog since the alien attack on the city." Mels said, an iPad, or something resembling it, in her lap, "As many of you remember, I filmed an episode during the attack. The link for it you can find in the description below. To start this vlog off, I will answer some questions." She held up her iPad and adjusted her glasses, "Most of them are the same though. In response to the questions and queries, yes. You can send tweets from the moon. You're welcome for that."

She pulled up a map on her iPad. A few blinking dots on it, names attached to them all. When she pressed a button, the map appeared with her on her computer screen.

"Now for a little hunter and tracker," Mels said. She enlarged one of the dots. "As you recall from my first video, my lovely little fish Goldie was released into the wild with one of my trackers on her. It was a test to see how long the tracker would last, as well as the distance of how far I could track. It seems like Goldie is currently somewhere around Australia."

She chuckled at the comments that appeared. She adjusted her glasses again. She started to tap on her iPad, multitasking without taking her face off the computer screen.

"Considering the lifespan of most goldfish, though, I am strongly considering the idea of Goldie being eaten. Poor Goldie." Mels said, wiping away imaginary tears "On the plus side, I would be able to determine whatever ate Goldie. The tracker is most likely attached to the stomach lining of the creature, so I could monitor the heart rate and such. So! New poll! What ate Goldie? You will find the link on the bottom of the page."

She heard a knock on her door, and whispering voices behind it. She looked down at the map on her iPad. Mels smiled and stood up at her seat, the camera on her computer following her.

"Alright, True Believers, I have a surprise for you!" She said, "We have a special guest star visiting us today! Any guesses?" Various comments popped up with wild guesses. Some of them were of cartoon or video game characters.

"Okay, okay, presenting the man who always gave me a healthy competition in school and life in general, Tony Stark!" Mels opened the door quickly and pulled Tony inside. Clint started chuckling as he came into the apartment. This girl was brilliant, but a total nerd.

"Alright, I know you all have many questions for Mr. Stark here. We do have to talk about things in private though. So Tony, anything you want to say to my followers?" Mels asked, pushing a shocked Tony into her computer chair. Just as she wanted, he was caught off guard.

"Um, hi. You're welcome for saving the city,I guess. Oh, and the world. And for just existing. And, um, MrsTonyStark91, I really like your screen name." Tony said

"And that's all the time we have. Until next time, good night True Believers, good night." Mels said. A small remote was pressed and her computer's camera was turned off. "And we're clear." Tony stood up.

"Nice place." Clint said sarcastically, examining a small rocket statuette.

"Nice aim with those arrows, Hawkeye. Now put that down, it's a collectible." Mels said sharply, putting on a hoodie that said 'sheriff's secret police' on the back, a yellow eye with a white crescent moon iris above the words. She sat down in her chair again, iPad never leaving her hands.

"Now, what do you want?" She asked, rounding on Tony.

"Well, we have decided you could be useful to our team." Tony said, a cocky smirk on his face.

"And by 'we'," Mels began using air quotes around the word "we". "You mean everyone, but you, am I right?" Mels asked, raising an eyebrow. The sheepish look on Clint's face was answer enough, and Mels rolled her eyes.

"Is it that obvious?" Tony asked with a smirk, cocking his head to the side. Mels sighed and shook her head.

"I've told the AIM, I've told Pym enterprises, I've even told the president himself, and now I'm telling you, my tech is _not_ for sale." She said

"Come on, you can find a heavily cloaked vehicle, oversee satellites and run space shuttle missions, but you choose to use this stuff to track your dead goldfish?" Tony asked, spreading his arms wide to emphasize their surroundings.

"And my ex roommate. There is no Starbucks she can go to that I can't find and torture her at." Mels said with an evil grin, turning around in her chair, typing on her computer. Clint snorted a laugh. He liked her spirit.

"The point is, I have a nice big tower. You know, Stark Tower?" Tony said, "I'm sure we have a space big enough for you to work." Mels rolled her eyes and groaned. She turned around quickly and stood up.

"And do what?!" Mels yelled, thowing herself off of her chair and stomping up to Tony, "Since they ended the program, I have nothing left! They took my baby before she was launched, do you have any idea how that feels?" Clint was ready to move to protect Tony, but he wasn't sure if he wanted to.

"What if I can get your baby back?" Tony asked, a new glint in his eyes. "I'm rich, there's not a lot rich guys can't do."

"Not gonna work." Mels said, turning on her heel and heading back towards the computer.

"Dental and health insurance. I'll supply and pay for it." Tony pressed on, knowing that if he came back without Mels, Aly would not be happy.

"Not interested." Mels took her seat and put on a pair of headphones with the Star Wars rebels logo on the sides. Tony sighed and sat on Mels' bed.

"You'll probably work with Aly." Clint suggested, seeing that Tony was running out of ideas. Tony smacked his arm.

"I didn't agree to my sister joining." He whispered

"She knows too much to not let her. Plus, I've only known her for a few weeks, but I have this feeling that if you try to tell Aly what to do, it's not gonna end well." Clint said.

Mels lifted one headphone at the mention of her friend's name. She slowly turned in her chair fingertips tapping against each other. Her lips were pursed in thought.

"All of that... And I want access to your Iron Man tech..." Mels said. Tony sighed and nodded his head at the request.

"Anything else?" He asked, almost immediately dreading the response.

"I want a bit." Mels asked, crossing her arms.

"A bit?" Tony asked, "I don't know what you're talking about."

"A bit." Mels confirmed, "And hasn't anyone ever told you, don't Con a Con Man. Or woman, as it were. You know exactly what I'm talking about."

"A bit?" Clint asked, looking from one genius to the other, confused by the request.

"As smart as I am with all of my technological know-how, I can't make an AI system like JARVIS. Just a little bit of him, and I could finally make my own. I've been wanting a bit since he first made JARVIS, but SOMEBODY refused. And look at where we are now." Mels explained. Tony stood, and so did Mels.

"One bit." He said, holding his hand out. Mels looked at her small apartment, at everything hanging from the ceiling and displayed on the various shelves. She looked back at Tony.

"Deal." She said, shaking his hand.

* * *

Aly grinned as she stared across the table at her unlikely lunch date. Around the team, Bruce had always seemed sort of reserved, and for good reason. She dipped a French fry in ketchup and popped it in her mouth.

"So you're kidding me, right?" She said between giggles. "A university actually _paid_ you to sit around and test hallucinogens as part of an experiment?"

Bruce laughed and nodded, holding up two fingers. "Scout's honor. It was awesome. And, you know, for science!" He sipped his green tea as Aly stared at him with a new respect.

"Not fair. Only time I got to do something cool like that was when I had my wisdom teeth out and the dentist accidentally gave me too much nitrous. Tony actually videoed that." Aly said, remembering the time she'd said some really funny things under the "laughing gas".

"Yeah, it was pretty hilarious. We ate a whole pizza, then forgot that we'd eaten it, so we ordered another." Bruce's eyes were full of mischief as he recounted the stories from when he'd been a grad student in Virginia. He was pleasantly surprised that remembering Betty didn't hurt him anymore. He still felt that vague sense of guilt, but no more than usual. He tried to push thoughts that this might have something to do with Aly's company. He couldn't allow himself to think like that. He had no right to bring someone, especially an innocent woman, into his tumultuous life.

"Aw, crap." Aly said, checking her watch. "We better head back to the Tower. Tony'll be home soon.

Bruce nodded and headed back to the Range Rover, Aly slipping her Ray-Bans back over her eyes and following right behind him.

Neither of them noticed the camera on the brownstone next to the diner turn to follow them. They of course, did not know that the camera was broadcasting to a dark room miles away.

A chair sat in front of a fire, which effectively cast the chair and it's occupant into shadow. The door to the room opened, and a man in an impressively tailored suit entered. A monitor was frozen on an image of Alexandria Stark and Bruce Banner eating at Wanda's Diner in Queens.

"Sir, we've got Miss Stark's whereabouts. I can send a team to take her within an hour, if you wish. It will be the beginning of Tony Stark's downfall. He will do anything to get his sister back."

The seated figure raised a hand, the firelight glinting off a few rings.

"No. Our men are too rough. We must ensure Miss Stark arrives unscathed. Also, an attack now would bring out her current companion's...bad side. I have someone in mind who can deliver her to me."

"S-sir?" The man in the suit asked.

"Call Wilson. Tell him I have a very lucrative proposition for him."

"Wilson, sir?"

"Yes, Wade Wilson. You may know him to a lesser degree as Deadpool, the name he chooses to go by. Arrange a meet between the two of us."


	4. Some Nights I call it a Draw

**Hey guys, sorry it's been so long since I've updated! Things have been going nuts, but I refuse to give up on this story. Enjoy the new chapter!**

* * *

 _She was standing in the middle of the street. Debris from nearby buildings littered the street. All around her, fires burned and alien creatures flew overhead, shooting laser devices at random. When she took a step, she saw the dust cloud around her black combat boots. When she looked up, a red and gold suit of armor streaked through the sky. A grin widened across her face as she watched Tony fly by. She knew this battle would end up alright, her cocky brother wasn't going to be defeated so easily. She also knew he was going to be downright insufferable after this._

 _Then she noticed what the suit of armor was clutching: a sleek white bomb. And the suit headed straight for the gaping wormhole in the sky._

" _Close it!" a voice called out. Aly whirled around and looked for the voice. She tried to say "no!" Wanted to scream it to the top of her lungs. The voice didn't know that Tony was up there (wherever 'there' was) or that he hadn't come back down yet._

 _The next moment, the wormhole closed, sending all the alien fighters clattering to the ground._

" _NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!"_

 _-FLASH-_

" _Maria, calm down! We're making great time!" Howard Stark said easily as he drove the Mercedes down the dark Long Island Expressway, making their way back to the Stark Mansion in The Hamptons. A ten-year old Aly was nearly asleep in the back seat. She was anxious to get home. Her older brother Tony was just about to finish his first semester at MIT and was due to be home that night. The family was heading back from a production of Phantom of The Opera in Manhattan._

" _Howard!" Maria gently put a hand on her husband's arm. "Slow down, dear. That car ahead of us is slowing down."_

" _Yeah, yeah, I see it. Y'see Aly, I told you your mother was a backseat driver!"_

 _Aly giggled at her father. Howard and Maria were always teasing each other. Her smile soon turned to terror as she saw that her father was pressing the brake pedal, to no avail._

 _He jerked the wheel to the side, trying to avoid the car in front of them, and then the car filled with the sounds of screams as it began to roll down the hill. Everything went black._

" _No…Please…Mom…Dad…NO!"_

"AAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHH!"

Aly sat bolt upright in her bed, legs tangled in the sheets and hair plastered by sweat to her forehead. Closing her eyes she took deep breaths, trying to steady herself. It'd been quite a while since she'd had that particular nightmare-the one of her parents' deaths. She'd been in the car, but miraculously made it out with just a few cuts and bruises, along with a broken leg, while her parents had lost their lives.

Pushing her crimson hair back into a sloppy bun, Aly untangled her legs from her blankets and padded barefoot to the door of her room. While none of the team really lived there officially yet, everyone had seemed to want to stay at Avengers tower after the New York Incident. Tony had of course made sure that everyone was comfortable in this "home".

A quick glance at the clock near her bed told Aly that it was nearly three in the morning. She stretched and walked out the door, heading down the hall to the kitchen, just on the other side of the common room. (The urge to raid Tony's well-stocked bar was very strong, but she didn't think that would be a good remedy for nightmares.)

"What are you doing up so early?" a voice asked. Aly stopped and looked over at the huge sofa. Bruce was seated there, wearing a white T-Shirt and a pair of plaid pajama pants. Aly suddenly realized she was dressed in a very inappropriate pair of pink cotton shorts and a black camisole. The shorts showed off her shapely legs-as well as a long white scar that ran from the back of her right knee to her heel. It was a souvenir from that horrific night. When the car had hit the ground, Aly's leg had been pinned, breaking it so severely that they'd needed to perform surgery on it to ensure she kept it.

Aly allowed a small smile to play across her lips as she walked into the kitchen area, opening the fridge and pulling out a bottle of Fiji Water. She downed nearly half of it before she responded to Bruce's question. "Nothing. Just thirsty." Bruce tried not to notice that Aly's tank top had risen up her back, revealing part of what looked to be a very intricate tattoo that ran from her hips, up her back and up to her shoulders.

"What was the dream about?" He pressed. Aly sighed and flopped down on the couch beside him, realizing that trying to get back to sleep was going to be a huge waste of time. She muttered what he assumed was something derogatory in French under her breath.

"Come on, I know a nightmare when I see one. What was it about? It might help to talk about it." Bruce pressed. This girl was definitely just like her brother, always wearing armor, oblivious to people wanting to help.

"Lollipops and Rainbows." She said dryly. She didn't fancy discussing her nightmare with the doctor, even though she realized that discussing it might make her feel a bit better.

However, Bruce was curious. From the time they'd spent together so far, he had genuinely begun to care for the younger Stark sibling. He was trying to convince himself that he only cared for her in a friendly way. He didn't hold any illusions. He knew it wouldn't be right for him to fall for anyone. He was a monster, plain and simple. Sure, he could control it every once in a while, but he could never put someone in danger like that, it wouldn't be right. So he suppressed his feelings and did his best to ignore the butterflies in his gut whenever she sent one of those bright smiles his way. If he was being honest with himself, though, he was already a goner. He sighed and ran a hand through his already tousled hair and turned on the big screen Television, navigating to the On Demand menu.

Aly leaned forward to see what he was watching. She squealed when she noticed that he'd recorded all of the episodes of Game of Thrones.

"Yes!" she crowed, settling in to watch. "Just what I need, fictional violence, instead of whatever the hell's been going on here lately."

"Maybe in some universe, everything _here_ is fictional violence." Bruce said with a grin. A silence hung in the air before both of them burst out laughing at the thought.

Finally feeling her restless night, Aly stretched out, laying her head on the pillow on the end of the couch, stretching out her legs so they lay across Bruce's lap.

Bruce didn't mind, even though his stomach was currently preforming acrobatics. The girl definitely had no trouble getting familiar with someone. "So I hear your friend is moving into the tower soon." He commented, trying to break the silence.

"Yeah." Aly said, stifling a yawn. "It should be great. Mels is a lot of fun to be around. We've known each other forever. She even knows where the bodies are buried." Aly gave an evil grin while Bruce gave a horrified look. She cracked up into laughter, letting him know she was kidding. He couldn't help but return her laugh.

"Yeah, well, clearly she annoys your brother, which is pretty amusing. She's okay in my book." Bruce said with a grin

Aly gave a slight laugh, and a few moments passed in silence as they watched Queen Cersei attempt to school Sansa Stark on how to cater to the Boy King Joffrey's every whim. The next moment, though, when Bruce looked over, he noticed Aly was sound asleep.

How to get someone's legs off of you when they're asleep? How to make sure they don't wake up? Bruce was smart, but he couldn't think of what to do next. He settled himself down to get caught up with his favorite show before sleep finally took hold of him as well.

When Aly woke up a few hours later, it was to hushed giggles and the sound of a phone camera taking pictures. When she opened her eyes, it was to see Tony grinning like a maniac and taking pictures on his cell phone.

"Awww! Look how cute! Aly and the Doc decided to snuggle!"

Aly slowly sat up, finally seeing that Bruce was asleep at the end of the couch, and Aly's legs were draped over his lap.

"Son of a-"Aly exclaimed jumping off the couch and reaching for Tony's phone. He lifted it up over his head, taunting her like a child. Bruce sat up groggily on the couch, for a moment forgetting where he was. He then saw Aly standing with her hand outstretched towards Tony, her chocolate-colored eyes narrowed and glaring at his phone.

"What the-?" He asked. Then he remembered the previous night. Aly watching Game of Thrones with him, falling asleep on the couch, everything. Deciding that this situation was quickly going to turn into a brother-sister argument, he quickly got up off the couch and busied himself in the kitchen making coffee.

"Tony, give me the phone, now!" Aly said loudly, holding her hand out expectantly for the phone.

"Nope, these are going straight on the internet!" Tony said with a grin. It was around this time that JARVIS' crisp, accented voice cut through the argument.

"Sir, Miss Melissa Lutz has arrived. Shall I direct her to the penthouse?" the AI said in his normal monotone. This served to distract the Starks from continuing their bickering.

"Yeah, J, let her up." Tony said offhandedly.

"JARVIS, can you also delete the most recent photos on Tony's phone?" Aly said with a smirk as she walked into the kitchen, where she gratefully took the cup of coffee that Bruce offered to her.

"Right away, Miss." Came JARVIS's reply.

"I'm gonna go change. Tony, be nice to Mels." Aly said, retreating to her room.

Just a few minutes later there was a knock on the door. Tony seemed to steel himself as he opened the door, revealing Mels, who had a backpack slung over her shoulder and a Monster's University ball cap over her frizzy multicolored hair. Tony opened his mouth to say something, but was cut off by Aly, who appeared from the hallway at just that moment. She was wearing a pair of denim cutoffs under a white tank top under a black and grey flannel shirt.

"Mels!" Aly squealed, throwing her arms around her best friend.

"Cant. Breathe!" Mels gasped as she endured Aly's bone-crushing hug.

"Sorry, Sweetie. I'm just so glad you're finally here!"

"Hey Dumbass!" Mels said with a grin over Aly's shoulder at Tony. Tony rolled his eyes and gave her the peace sign and a grin.

"How's it going short stack?" He asked, as he sipped his coffee and texted on his phone."I thought you said you weren't gonna be here til tomorrow."

"Yeah and I thought you said you were gonna call me after our date freshman year." Mels said matter-of-factly. She couldn't be sure, but she thought she saw a hint of a blush on Tony's cheeks.

"Awkward. Well, I gotta go post some pictures of Aly and the Doc on Facebook, or whatever." Tony said, turning to head back to his room

"Hey don't even think about it!" Aly yelled. Mels held an arm out to stop her from going after her brother.

"Hold up. I still need to find my room." She said

"Oh, it's this way! You're gonna love it! We get to share a lab with Bruce Banner, he's really chill-usually-so it should be fun!" Aly didn't much like the knowing look Mels gave her.

"What?" she asked, giving her friend a glare as she walked towards the elevator.

"Nothing, "Mels said with an increasingly smug smile on her face. "It's just…do I detect a hint of a crush?" she tried and failed to keep the grin on her face. When Aly looked at her, she half expected to see canary feathers sticking out of her teeth.

Aly groaned. "You're worse than Tony with that crap." The elevator finally opened on the floor that contained the lab where Aly, Mels, and Bruce would be working. It was easy to see which areas would belong to whom.

Mels nearly squealed with delight as she ran to her area. On the stainless steel worktable sat something large covered in a tarp. Mels lost no time in tearing away the tarp, revealing a jumble of wires and metal.

"Oh, my baby!" she cooed, running her hands over cool metal. Aly rolled her eyes and perched herself on her worktable-which currently held a hodge-podge of papers and beakers and test tubes. A vaguely expensive looking microscope sat on the corner next to a tablet.

Mels chuckled as she lifted one of the metallic panels on the side of her creation.

"It's still there!" she said triumphantly. Under the panel, in black paint, were the words "Suck it, Tony Stark. Love, Mels" Aly giggled as she slid off the table, wincing a little as her bare feet hit the cold floor.

"Come on. I'll show you around the rest of the tower." She gestured out the door and Mels silently followed her.

Later that night, however, as Mels was getting acclimated to her new home, none of the Avengers were aware that a very different kind of meeting was taking place.

* * *

The dim light of a nearby street lamp flickered in the night, casting the long shadow of a man with a trench coat. He glanced around at his surroundings in the alley. He was alone, not according to plan. He turned all of his attention to the iPad he carried and started tapping on it.

A figure shrouded in darkness appeared on the screen. But the man failed to notice the dark figure creeping down the fire escape of the brownstone behind him.

"Sir, it has been an hour. The contact has failed to meet me." He explained.

The watching shadow pulled something from one of the pouches that were part of what looked to be a combat suit.

"Give him time. He has been known to be... Reckless with... Everything. Even time." The man on the iPad explained. The item the shadow held was slowly unwrapped so the figure could start eating it. The man with the iPad groaned and looked around.

"With all due respect, sir," he said, turning his attention to his leader, "I feel this contact is more of a liability than an asset. What kind of professional would show up an hour past the meeting time?" He felt something hit his head.

"The kind that was hungry, dumbass!" an angry voice yelled. The man looked down to see what had hit his head. It was a balled up wrapper for a microwaved chimichanga. He was startled by the man in red that landed in front of him, jumping down from his perch.

"I mean seriously, have you ever gotten the munchies so badly, it feels like your stomach is going to consume you from the inside out?" He continued, "I have it almost all the time. Chimichangas always hit the spot. Hard to find them around here though. Especially this late."

"Mr. Wilson." The man said. A hand was raised and waved.

"Ah! Ah! No, nononono. Please. If we're talking business. It's Deadpool. If the business takes place amongst Spanish people, it's la Piscina de la Muerte." Deadpool introduced himself. He bowed lightly before crossing his arms. "Now what the hell do you want?"

The man turned the iPad around to see the figure on the screen.

"Hello, Deadpool. I'm sorry to be speaking to you this way. I had to hide my face and alter my voice. I'm not ready to be revealed. Not yet." He said

"Ooh, shadowy guy, smoke and mirrors. Haven't seen that one before." Deadpool deadpanned. The man on the screen sighed. His image was replaced by a picture of a girl with bright red hair.

"This is your target. Alexandria Stark." He explained. Deadpool leaned closer to look at the girl. He nodded his head and rubbed his chin.

"Just a grab job? You know, when people call me, it's 'cause they need me to kill people, save the world, or look really cool for their friends." He pulled two guns out of their holsters and posed for an imaginary camera.

"This will not be easy." Came the mystery man's voice.

"It never is, is it?" Deadpool sighed wistfully, standing up all the way. Another picture showed Aly and Bruce together. "The man she is seen with is Bruce Banner." The shadowed figure explained. "I'm sure you know of his…erm…anger management issues."

"Hm, Jolly Green is looking good. Okay, get the girl alone." Deadpool nodded his head.

"Also, the target must be delivered alive, and unharmed." The mystery man's face came on screen again. Or at least, the outline of his face.

"Say what now? Come on! That takes away most of my fun!" Deadpool whined, "It's usually just bust in going Pew, Pew! Slice Slice! Stabby Stabby! Boom, Murdered! No wait, that last one is something like a Raccoon would say if it had really big guns." One of the guns in his hands went off, and the iPad carrier fell down. "Shit shit shit shit shiiiiiit! Didn't mean that." Deadpool picked up the iPad.

"There is the matter of pay,which we need to discuss." The man on screen sighed, not seeming to care that his employee had just been killed.

"I like the number seven." Deadpool said flatly.

"Pardon?" the employer asked, sounding confused.

"I like getting checks with seven zeros before the decimal point."

"Very well." Said the man on the screen.

"Good deal! I'll have my people call your people. When I get the girl I'll bring her back here for you. Gift wrapping will be an additional zero on my check, although she's pretty enough not to need gift wrapping." Deadpool said, placing the iPad on the dead man's body.

"Mr. Deadpool." The man on screen said, obviously done with the conversation. With the position of the iPad, he was looking to the sky. The next image he saw was a handwritten note saying 'I. O. U. 1 goon.' Deadpool let it float down onto the device and was gone before it touched the screen.

As he made his way back, Deadpool couldn't help to ask himself what the hell he'd gotten himself into now.


	5. On Top of The World

**Sorry for the long delay in updating...Stuff happened...**

* * *

A good night's sleep was interrupted by the sound of a buzzing. Aly slammed on her cellphone to silence it. The sky had a tinge of yellow on the horizon. Aly climbed out of bed to change into a workout outfit. She tiptoed to the elevator to the roof, earbuds playing a calming song. She was surprised to find somebody had beaten her to the top of the tower.

It was Bruce, and he was so focused that he didn't notice her presence at first. Aly couldn't help watching him. Despite his physique, he was smooth, graceful, even. He looked completely at peace with the world. Bruce was definitely a master at tai chi.

"You gonna stand there and gawk all day?" A voice said, breaking Aly from her thoughts. She realized she'd been caught staring, and began to turn an interesting shade of red.

"Can I-" She squeaked. She looked away and cleared her throat. Bruce smiled. Aly turned back around. "Can I join you?" She asked

"Sure." Bruce nodded his head, motioning her to join him on the roof.

Aly laughed nervously as she walked away from the doorway. "Sorry I was being creepy, I'm just not used to anyone actually being here. I thought I was the only one who came up here."

"Me neither. I'm not used to anybody doing tai chi with me." Bruce explained

Aly smiled and put her iPod on the iDock she'd brought up when the tower had been rebuilt. It began playing "break stuff" by Limp Bizkit. Bruce laughed and shook his head at the song choice. "Good choice for Tai Chi. Very calming."

"Yeah, I can see my mistake with that one." Aly said, grabbing the device.

"May I?" Bruce asked, moving to stand beside her, a hand held out for the iPod. Aly nodded and handed it to him. He scrolled through the music, every once in a while smiling at the songs Aly had put on her iTunes.

"Why do you have the same song five times?" He asked

"Different versions from different artists. I couldn't decide on my favorite." Aly explained

"And the reason behind the 'nsync songs?" Bruce asked teasingly, raising an eyebrow.

"The reason is-shut up!" Aly said in a half-joking, half-defensive way.

"Oh, this is a good one." Bruce decided. With the song chosen, he put the device on the dock. "Ends of the Earth" by Lord Huron began playing. Aly started to nod her head to the beat.

"Splendid choice, sir!" Aly said in a fake snooty accent. She and Bruce began to practice their tai chi, letting the music play as they made their way through the easier poses. As soon as they started to do poses involving one leg, Aly became unsteady. Bruce stopped to help pose her. "You have to breathe in through the nose, deep into the lungs, and out of your mouth." He explained

Aly nodded and attempted to concentrate on doing the pose correctly, even though she was painfully aware of Bruce's hands on her hips. "Like that?" She asked, proud of herself for not sounding slightly hysterical.

"Am I interrupting something?" A voice sounded from the doorway. Aly whirled around to see Steve leaning against the doorway. She did not appreciate the smirk on the captain's face.

"You're not here for tai chi too, are you?" Bruce asked

"No, this is just the end of my run up the stairs." Steve explained

"You run up the stairs?" Aly asked apprehensively "Like…on purpose?"

"Tony doesn't have a track. Besides, I move out to SHIELD headquarters in DC at the end of the week. Need to keep my workout routine in the meantime." Steve explained.

Aly rolled her eyes. "Yeah, because you're totally out of shape, cap."

"Can you tell?" He asked, poking his stomach as though there was anything other than muscle.

Aly giggled. "So anyone want breakfast? I know the first thing i need after burning all those calories is some bacon."

"Meet you there." Steve said

"Bruce?" Aly asked

"Yeah, same." He responded.

Aly shrugged and took the elevator to the kitchen. Sitting slumped over the counter was the still form of Mels. A small contraption that appeared to have small repulsers attached with wires sticking out of everywhere sat in front of her. Aly gulped and looked down at her feet, tiptoeing across the tiled floor slowly and quietly.

Thor appeared at the arch across the room. As he opened his mouth, Aly began waving her hands wildly.

He noticed the sleeping Mel's and still was ready to speak. Aly made a slicing motion at her neck. "Don't say a word" she mouthed.

"What?" Thor whispered as soft as he could. Mels sat upright, almost falling from her seat.

"Wha-?" She asked, looking around, "What was-? Who was-?" He eyes fell on the god, "Thor, be a little quiet, please."

"By Odin's beard, Heimdall would be impressed." He commented

"It's a little something the doctors thought she'd grow out of. Super hearing." Aly whispered

"Yeah, it's strongest when I'm asleep or trying to focus on the sound." Mels explained, looking at what she made.

"And you were focused on me!" Aly said, happily.

"That's why my room is soundproof." Mel's added

"I thought that was so no one could hear you rage at video games." Tony said, entering the room behind Thor

"Another good reason." Mel said. She attached and pulled out a couple wires from the mechanism. Her hands deep inside it, the device gave a low hum as the repulsers lit. Mels gave a devious smirk as she turned around in her seat.

"Hey Tony," she said, "THINK FAST!" The item was thrown at Tony. He reached up to try catching it. Before any impact was made, the repulsers fired off, enabling it to stop and hover in midair, inches away from Tony.

"It works! It WORKS!" Mel's cheered as she jumped out of her chair repeating and singing the phrase. She hugged and danced around Thor before running to Tony.

"Is this normal?" Thor asked

"Just for Mels." Aly said dryly, watching her friend dance around the room. She actually was extremely proud of Mels, not that she'd say it.

"Well, it's unsettling...and strange" Thor had a confused look on his face.

Mels didn't hear, though, as she was too busy telling Tony about her device

"See, my satellite is meant to go deep space, farther than Hubble. But everybody assumed it would have to defend itself from obstacles and dangers. And for the power to enable it to fly out that far, it will need a lot of juice. But what if instead of defending itself, it knew when a danger was coming and what to do to avoid it?" Mels asked. She gently pulled the device from its spot in the air to the stove, putting it on one of the burners. She turned the heat on high.

The little thing started to hover above it. Mels put her hands on top and tried to push it down, but it only increased its own power to avoid the heat. When Mels let go and it started to rocket to the ceiling. It slowed itself down to avoid the danger. "From studying the bit of JARVIS you gave me, and a little Iron Man tech, I was able to make this little baby here." She said with a satisfied smile on her face as she beamed at her creation.

"Time to put it on the full-sized model. Tony, wanna help?" Mels looked at the Billionaire, fully expecting him to say no, possibly with an insult. She was shocked when he gave her a grin.

"What the hell, why not? I actually have a project I've been working on that maybe you could give me some input on." Tony said.

"Oh?" Mels asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Her name's…Veronica."

"Oooo!" Mels exclaimed excitedly as she began to follow Tony out of the kitchen. Aly couldn't help but notice that Mels hadn't seemed to have eaten anything. She made a mental note to keep tabs on that.

"But first…" Thor said, placing a hand on Tony's shoulder to stop him from leaving the room. "I am bringing Loki back to Asgard today, would any of you care to witness it?"

"Oh, you mean a chance to see the douche who almost broke the world go back to face justice?" Aly asked from her perch on the counter, where she was adding sugar to the cup of coffee Bruce had just handed her.

"Yes…" Thor said, looking at her apprehensively. "But is it strictly necessary to put that much sugar in your beverage?"

Tony barked out a laugh at that. "Good lookin' out, Point Break, I've been telling her for years she's gonna give herself diabetes." He patted Thor on the shoulder. "Also, I'm in. Wouldn't miss a chance to say goodbye to Reindeer Games."

"I'm in, too." Bruce said sheepishly, leaning against the counter next to Aly with a cup of Chamomile tea.

"I'm sure Widow and Agent Chuckles will come, too." Tony piped up, referring to Agents Romanoff and Barton.

"You know I'm in." Steve confirmed from the table where he was eating a bowl of oatmeal.

Later that day, the team all gathered in a secluded corner of Central park. Bruce raised an eyebrow at Aly's outfit. She was wearing a white sundress under a black leather jacket. Her bright hair was loose, falling in waves to the middle of her back. What really set her outfit off, though, were her shoes. She'd ditched her usual combat boots in favor of a pair of knee-high suede boots with five-inch stiletto heels.

"A dress, really?" Mels asked her, getting out of Tony's convertible. They'd parked right behind Aly's Range Rover.

"What can I say? Aly grinned, slinging an arm around her best friend's shoulders. "Some days, you just refuse to put on pants." She nodded a smile to Natasha and Clint, who'd just pulled up, and went to stand with Tony, Bruce, and Steve, who leaned against his motorcycle.

None of them noticed the figure in red watching them from the tree nearby. Deadpool leaned against the tree trunk, quietly eating a microwave burrito and generally showing signs of boredom.

"Ok, first of all, I feel like I've missed the Stan Lee cameo," He said to himself as he snacked. "Second of all, I'm pretty sure this burrito is gonna give me the shits later. And lastly, is this chick EVER alone?"

Aly smiled at Thor and gave him a hug, which he returned.

"Farewell, Lady Stark. It has been nice knowing you these past few weeks. Take good care of your brother."

Aly grinned. "Hey, Thor, can I say goodbye to Loki?" she asked, giving the Asgardian an innocent look. Thor reluctantly nodded.

Aly walked up to Loki with what could only be described as a beatific smile. It brought out a dimple in her right cheek that Bruce tried very hard not to notice, to no avail. Her grin was downright gleeful as she stopped in front of the Trickster God.

"Loki…I just want you to know…when you get out of whatever punishment is waiting for you back on Asgard, and if you think, you know, about coming back here…" Loki gave her a confused look over the muzzle he wore over his mouth. With no warning, Aly's leg struck out, the business end of her boot striking him in the –for lack of a better word- family jewels. Her grin turned into a menacing snarl.

"DON'T!" She said forcefully. Her voice became deadly quiet. "If you _ever_ think of coming back here, you just remember what's waiting for you. "

Seeming to have gotten her anger out of her system, Aly stalked back to stand between Bruce and Mels, who just looked at her in awe.

With that, Thor forced Loki to take hold of the case the Tesseract was in. Thor cast one final look around at his friends. Loki took a look around as well, his gaze resting almost overlong on Mels and Aly. The look unsettled Aly. It made her nervous, that look. It was almost…smug. She got the feeling that Loki knew more than he was letting on, and she couldn't shake the feeling that he was exactly where he wanted to be for now. Almost unconsciously, she reached out and took Bruce's hand in hers. He hesitated for a moment, then wrapped an arm around her, pulling her close to him protectively.

Mels could swear she heard a chuckle as Loki stared at her. She got the feeling this wouldn't be the last time she or any of her friends dealt with him. What she felt could almost be described as a premonition.

With a flash of light, both Asgardians were gone from their sight.

As Deadpool watched the scene before him, he watched the easy way Banner wrapped his arm around the Stark girl, the way she practically melted into his side. Deadpool didn't quite like the feeling in his gut-this time it had nothing to do with the dodgy burrito he'd just consumed.

 _Shit…If I take her…that's coming after me….I wonder if it's too late to ask for more money._ He thought.

As the group dispersed-Stark Senior had suggested something called Shawarma-He watched the techie-Mels, he thought he'd heard her called-get into the fancy Acura that Tony Stark was driving, and the Boy-Scout on steroids (also known as Captain America) get onto his motorcycle, the two assassins were whispering together before getting into their yellow Mazda, and Aly Stark tossed Banner the keys to the fancy truck she drove.

 _This is gonna be harder than I thought…_

* * *

 **As always, Reviews are love, constructive criticism is love, flames will be openly mocked.**


	6. Wonderwall

As the days passed, the scientists worked, the soldiers and assassins trained, and the Deadpool continued stalking his prey. As the days passed all of them were growing stronger. So too did the feelings Aly and Bruce shared for each other. But neither of them were ready to admit it o the other.

Aly and Bruce had become nearly inseparable. They always seemed to be working in the lab at the same time, and had begun subconsciously looking out for one another. Whenever Bruce was focused on work, Aly would always make sure he took time to eat lunch (usually with her), and when Aly hit a roadblock in her work (she was helping to modify the Avengers' weapons so that they had specific bio-encoding so the weapons only worked for their specific owners.) He was there with ideas and encouragement.

Mels and Tony were the first to notice the shared glances and extended hand touches. While Mels was more than ready to, sometimes literally, push the two together, Tony was more wary and protective.

Meanwhile, Deadpool began to grow bored of following Aly, and was hard pressed to figure out a way to separate her from the not-so-jolly green giant. He had an idea. But he needed the right moment to enact it. He just had to wait for the right distraction.

For now, though, he was sitting on the rooftop of the skyscraper directly opposite Stark Tower, munching on a taquito and watching the tower's inhabitants. He scowled beneath his mask when he noticed that The Black Widow and Hawkeye were still hanging around the tower.

"He's still watching us." Natasha whispered to Clint.

"Seriously?" He asked. Deadpool was unaware of the fact that the two spies were fully aware of him ever since he started his spying.

"What could he possibly want, though?" Clint asked. A hand inched towards the Glock he always kept holstered at his side.

"Something specific considering how long he's been tailing us." Natasha mused. "We'll keep an eye on the situation and report it if he does anything disturbing. Nothing in the database says that Deadpool is a threat to us. He's just a loner soldier of fortune type."

"You mean he's a dirty bounty hunter." Clint countered, taking a sip of the coffee he'd left on the kitchen table.

"Who's a dirty bounty hunter?" Mels asked, as she entered the room, her face covered in soot and oil.

"No one." Natasha lied smoothly. "Clint was just telling me he didn't like Boba Fett."

Mels was no fool. She knew the agents were keeping something from her. She decided to play along with it, though. "Personally, I thought Aurra Singh was pretty cool. I mean, a female bounty hunter! But then again Cad Bane has swag. Then again, I wish we could have seen more Ventress bounty hunter. What do you think?" She asked, a smirk on her face.

"I think I'm gonna go train now. " Natasha said quickly.

"Oh wow, i gotta go see Aly in the lab...she's making me a new bow." Clint said, checking a watch he wasn't wearing as he quickly vacated the room behind the red haired Russian.

"Nobody can out nerd me." Mels whispered as she went back the way she'd come, returning to her lab.

She slid on a welding mask and a thick pair of gloves.

"Jarvis, I lost count of how many times we tried this, so let's say this is attempt five." She said, grabbing two thick cables.

"Commencing attempt number seventeen." Jarvis said

"Thank you Jarvis, you're a real pal." Mels groaned. The cables were held out far in front of her.

"Three, two,..." she counted as the ends moved closer before they connected. The satellite's repulsers glowed a bright white, a mist coming from them. Slowly it started to rise.

Mels pushed up her mask, a smile on her face.

"TONY!" She yelled before scrambling to his workshop.

"I swear to God if this is another giant spider you want me to kill. .." Tony grumbled as he walked into the lab. He stopped in his tracks, however, when he saw Mels' satellite.

"I'll be damned." he said not trying to hide the awe in his voice.

"My baby is airborn! Airborn!" Mels said, excitedly grabbing Tony's face. Her gloves were still on her hands. When Tony pushed her away, she laughed at the black streaks on his face. He rubbed at his face to get them off.

"Ah, they grow up so fast, don't they?" Mels said, wiping away an imaginary tear.

Tony chuckled at her reminded him of how he felt when he'd finally perfected his suit.

But at the same time, he felt... Something. "Yeah, they grow up fast." He said, almost sadly.

At that moment, Aly walked in, her feet were bare, but she held her beat up Chuck Taylors loosely in her hand.

"Bruce and I are going for lunch, you guys want anything?"

"A victory sandwich for me!" Mels said, dragging Aly into the room. "Ta da!" She held her arms out to the hovering satellite.

"Oh my gosh it's working! Aly shouted, dropping her shoes and hugging Mels.

"You want anything for lunch, bro?" Aly asked, turning to her brother.

"Just... Be safe. Okay?" Tony asked of her. Aly raised an eyebrow, looking for some kind of joke he might be pulling on her. But Tony's expression was one of pure concern.

With a smile, Aly gave her brother a tight hug and a kiss on the cheek. "Always. Who's gonna annoy you if something happens to me?" She giggled as she picked up her shoes and laced them onto her feet.

"I volunteer as tribute!" Mel's piped up, raising a hand.

"That's what Mels is for." Tony nodded his head in agreement.

"Bye Tony. Love you." Aly said before meeting Bruce in the hall.

"Allons-y!" She said brightly, grabbing Bruce's hand and pulling him down the hall.

"They always grow up too fast." Tony sighed, eyes lingering on Aly as she and Bruce headed down the hallway.

Mels groaned at Tony's tone. "Why are you acting so weird around Aly? Why is everyone in the tower acting so weird in general?" She asked. She pulled out a remote and turned a knob. The satellite lowered the ground slowly before it finally landed.

"I'm not acting weird." Tony said, his tone short. "Don't project your own weirdness onto other people."

Mels rolled her eyes. "You think I haven't noticed your attitude towards Aly and Bruce being together? Really. You've been against the thought of them together since day one." She said, climbing onto her satellite.

"They're not together yet. Plus, it's not the idea of them together I'm against, it's the idea of my baby sister getting her heart broken that concerns me. Aly doesn't look before she leaps. I'm not sure the doc trusts himself to catch her."

"Neither do you." Mels mumbled. She tightened a screw before looking down at Tony. "Sometimes you just gotta take a leap of faith. Life is messed up, love is messed up, there are soldiers, assassins, geniuses, and bounty hunters all out to get someone. But you have to trust that Bruce will be able to defend Aly before she ever gets hurt." She said before climbing down.

"You actually have a point, short stack. That's annoying. It's just..." Tony ran a hand through his hair. "She's my baby sister, yknow? She's all I've got left."

Mels pursed her lips in thought of what to say. She raised a gloved hand and gently patted Tony's cheek. "If he breaks her heart, believe me, you won't be the only person Bruce will have to worry about." She said. Tony nodded his head, then suddenly realized she was patting his face with her glove. Her dirty glove. He ducked away, but she walked after him. "Come back, I want to even it out on both sides!" She shouted, running after him.

"I can't believe Mels wanted me to get her a sandwich. We're in New York City." Aly commented as she walked out of Subway, a meatball sub wrapped up in the bag she held.

"All scientists have their quirks for when something works. I always have a pint of Ben and Jerrys when something goes right." Bruce commented

"Phish food?" Aly gave him a sideways glance.

"Yeah." Bruce laughed. Aly joined in.

"Okay then, we can be friends." She said

"I thought we already were?" Bruce asked, wrapping an arm around her.

Reveling in the sudden closeness, Aly wrapped an arm around Bruce's waist as they walked towards Aly's favorite Japanese steakhouse. They ordered sushi, green tea, and bento boxes to go. They then walked through Central Park towards Stark Tower.

"It's nice to get out of the tower." Aly said. Children were playing in the summer sun, while their parents were nearby. She smiled. Bruce did too, for a moment.

"I mean, do we actually have to go back right this second?" Bruce asked, walking towards a bench near Strawberry Fields. A young guy in a beanie was playing an acoustic guitar and singing "Wonderwall" by Oasis on the bench next to them.

"Well, Mels prefers her sandwiches warm, but she does have a microwave." Aly commented as she sat down. She looked over at the guitarist. He actually sounded better than the original. She nodded her head to the beat. Bruce looked over at her. Something about the way the sunlight was shining just made her look beautiful. He cast his eyes down at the mosaic. "Imagine".

It seemed to Bruce that a lot of the things that had seemed imaginary only a short while ago were real. Hell, he wouldn't be surprised if witches and warlocks were real.

Then again, Aly seemed to be casting a spell on him. As he turned, Aly turned to look at him. She smiled.

"I love this song. And that guy is really good. You have any change?" She asked

"Hey, Aly?" Bruce asked. He seemed nervous. He leaned in closer to her.

"You okay?" Aly asked

He leaned forward all the way, their lips pressed together. Aly was surprised but was still happy. She closed her eyes as she relished the feeling. Bruce quickly pulled away and stood. The feeling was still lingering on Aly's lips.

"What's wrong?" She asked

"I can't I-I, Mels sub is getting cold. We, uh, we gotta get back to the tower." Bruce said, walking away.

"What the...FUCK just happened." Aly said, stomping her foot and ignoring the glare she got from the middle aged woman who had walked up with her five kids. She quickly realized that Bruce was already pretty far ahead, his head bowed low as he walked.

"Hey...Hey!" Aly yelled, running to catch up. She stopped in front of Bruce, making him stop as well. "Hey, what was that? I thought we had a good thing going on."

"I can't. It's... You're a wonderful, amazing girl, but... I..." He started before walking around Aly and down the path. Aly was so shocked, she couldn't help but stare as he left her. She shook her head to snap out of it.

Her expression softened as she closed her eyes and asked "Is... is this about the... The Other Guy?" She asked quietly, staring at her converse. "Because if it is, I'm not afraid. Like, even in the slightest. I know you'd never hurt me." She folded her arms around herself, and leveled her chocolate brown eyes at him.

"It's complicated Aly. My life, his life, my past relationships, too complicated. Everything is." Bruce said

Aly raised an eyebrow. "Wait... relationships?"

Bruce closed his eyes against the memories. "Just one, really." His voice was small, and he looked like he was trying hard not to think about something. "Her name was Betty... and Aly, I'm begging you... Please just leave it alone. Just trust me when I say I'm no good for you." Aly sighed, wordlessly stepping aside and allowing him to continue on to the tower.

"Still not giving up." She said to no one as she too headed into the tower.

Just as Bruce was about to walk into the tower, a figure in a hoodie bumped into him, knocking his phone out of his jacket pocket and onto the ground. The phone instantly fell apart, the battery popping out when the back came off.

"Oh crap, I'm so sorry!" Said the hooded man, hastily putting Bruce's phone back together. He handed it back to him, and Bruce took it back and headed into the tower without a word.

Deadpool smiled as he pulled his own phone out of his pocket. His smile widened when the screen said "Cloning Complete".

 _Yeah_ , he thought as he continued walking, _this plan is great_.


	7. Something Wicked this Wade Comes

_There was fire...everywhere. Death and destruction surrounded him, and he was at its epicenter. A cry reached his ears. When he followed it, he found a bloody body laying prone on the ground._

 _Aly._

 _She looked up at him, pain in her eyes._

 _"How...could...you?" She said weakly. "I...trusted...you."_

 _"Not anymore." A voice sounded behind him._

 _Bruce turned to see Tony aiming a repulser at him, a stony expression on his face_.

Bruce gasped as he sat up in bed, panting as he pushed sweaty bangs off his forehead.

Untangling himself from the sheets, he threw himself off his bed and headed down the hall. He headed towards the patio, thinking some fresh air would do him some good.

He was immediately greeted with the sounds of the iDock playing "Take me to Church" by Hozier. An ashtray sat on the table, it had clearly been used recently. That's when he noticed Aly. She was asleep on the couch next to the table, her red hair was pulled into a messy bun, and she was wearing her denim shorts and flannel shirt despite the cold.

He sighed and began walking back, heading to the kitchen. A glass of water might help, too. Aly slowly woke to the light from the fridge. Bruce sighed again seeing her awake.

He quickly looked away, turning and heading back towards his room. Still a bit groggy from sleep, Aly got up from the couch and walked inside, following Bruce. When she caught up to him, she gently laid a hand on his shoulder.

"Hey, everything okay?" She asked, concern coloring her warm eyes.

"Yeah, just, uh, just need water." He replied, trying to gently make his escape. Aly wasn't buying what Bruce was selling.

"Bullshit."

"Trust me, it's nothing you need to worry about. Just a bad dream." He deflected, putting a hand on his door.

"I know a nightmare when I see one" Aly persisted, following Bruce into his room. She knew she was using his previous words against him, but she could tell something was bugging him.

"Some nightmares are worth talking about. Mine aren't." He retorted, putting the cup on his desk. He tried to gently move her towards his door. Aly spun around to kick it closed, and then ducked under his arm to jump onto his bed.

"Well, I think they are. And since everyone else is asleep and I'm wide awake, who better to talk about them to?" Aly smiled at him, a hint of a challenge in her brown eyes

The smile stayed on her face as she made herself comfortable on the bed.

Bruce shook his head, trying to think of the right words. But Aly was distracting him as she curled up like a cat. A ghost of a smile appeared on his face.

"Fine." He said softly

He took a seat on his bed. Aly sat up and hugged her knees, her head was cocked to the left as she waited for him to speak.

"You're such an adult." Bruce admitted with a chuckle

"I know." Aly nodded, leaning on him slightly, raising an eyebrow. "Sooooo?"

"The dream...right." Bruce began as he scooted a bit further away from Aly. "It was pretty bad. I dreamt..." he trailed off, as though remembering something he'd just as soon forget

Aly looked down at her feet before turning her eyes back up at Bruce. "I once dreamt I was a lobster. Everything was the same as I went through the day, except I was a lobster." She said.

Bruce smiled and looked down at his clasped hands. Try as she might, Aly was not making this any easier for him. "I... Lost control. Everything. Everything was destroyed." Bruce explained, he turned his head to look at Aly, "Then I found you. I... I'd hurt you... Then Tony showed up. And he killed me."

Aly's eyes softened. She put a hand to Bruce's cheek.

"But you didn't hurt me. It was just a dream. No one hurt anyone."

"But I will. It's only a matter of time…It will eventually happen." Aly's heart broke for Bruce, it was clear that he believed what he said. He actually believed that he was an uncontrollable monster.

Aly smiled sadly. "Hey, you don't get to choose if you get hurt in this world. But you do get some say in who hurts you."

"You got that from a John Green book." Bruce said flatly.

She shrugged. "So? Same principle applies. I don't consider you a threat, 'cause I know you're a good person who would never purposely hurt me.

"No you may know me, but you don't know-" Bruce started

"The Other Guy?" Aly interrupted. "No. I don't know him, but he literally is still you. I'm still willing to trust that the goodness in you can keep him from hurting anyone you don't want to."

"Do you have any idea how much I wish things were that easy?" Bruce said, running his hands through his hair.

"Then make it that easy. Have a little trust in yourself. You've been fighting him for so long. Maybe it's time to try a different approach." The challenge was fresh in her eyes. Bruce knew she wouldn't be dissuaded from her belief that he was a good person. Part of him even wanted her to be right.

"You sound like your brother." He said

"Tony has been known to be right every now and then." Aly shrugged. Bruce chuckled. He stood and took a few steps away, just to turn back around and look at the determined girl on his bed.

"Look... If... If you want... Us... To work..." He tried to explain

"There's a word." Aly nodded her head

"What? What word?" Bruce asked

"The word is 'boundaries'. You're a really great guy. I would like to know you better. But if I start to make you uncomfortable, at all, just tell me! I'll back off." She explained. Her words felt like a weight was lifted off of Bruce's chest

"Now, I believe we've reached our 'serious and angsty' quota for the night. I happen to know that Tony has a Nintendo 64 and a copy of Mario Kart. Feel like getting completely owned at racing by a girl?" Aly gave a cocky smirk. "Loser buys the winner lunch for a week."

"Oh, that's what you think." Came Bruce's response. The game and system were retrieved and set up in his room. The two spent the night enjoying each other's company... And on occasion using a blue shell.

"Goddamn Yoshi with your goddamn blue shells and your stupid laugh. Fucking hell!" Aly groaned as she finished in last place as Bruce looked on smugly, having come in first.

Eventually the two fell asleep, Aly on the floor (her controller was directly underneath her) and Bruce on the end of his bed.

Neither of them noticed that the whole time they'd been in there, Bruce's phone had lit up on its charger, and a certain mercenary was listening in. Sort of.

Deadpool's mask rode up his face as his cheek slid further down the wall he was leaning against on the roof of the building opposite Stark Tower. He'd fallen asleep about halfway through Aly and Bruce's Mario Kart war.

He, and Aly and Bruce, all groaned as the sun came up, waking them all up too early for their liking.

"Coffee for-" Tony stopped dead in the doorway, a shit-eating grin spreading across his face as he saw that Aly was in Bruce's room. His expression reminded Aly of a tea kettle filling with steam: this was going to be loud.

"WHAT AM I LOOKING AT?!" Tony shouted. He resisted the urge to rip Aly out of the room and put her on a plane to China.

Aly rolled her eyes, standing up slowly and stretching.

"Tony-"

But that's when Bruce threw an arm around her shoulders.

"It's okay, Aly, he's gonna find out sooner or later." Tony's face was incredulous.

"I beat her at Mario Kart last night." Bruce said in a deadpan voice.

Tony raised an eyebrow. "So?" He said with an unimpressed shrug, "Every dog has his day beating my baby sister at her favorite game."

Aly giggled. "Relax, Tony. We just fell asleep playing the game. Nothing happened, so you can-"

At that moment Mels came running down the hall.

"Coffee for everyone! My personal blend! Better than Starbucks!" Mel's cheered before appearing in the doorway. "Hey Aly did you hear the good news!" She looked at Tony, "Did you tell them the good news?" She looked back at Aly and Bruce, "There's good news and it's the best I made coffee for everyone Tony tell them!" Mels was literally jumping up and down in excitement. Tony rolled his eyes and shook his head. No wonder they never had that second date.

"I'm working out the clearance and stuff, but-" Tony began, before being cut off by Mels.

"We're gonna launch my baby!" She squealed, jumping up and down in excitement.

* * *

Meanwhile, Deadpool had become bored. The more time he spent tailing the Stark girl, the more he began to doubt the girl was EVER by herself.

His phone suddenly went off in his pocket.

"What?" He said in answer, putting the phone to his ear.

"Mr. Wilson, I am becoming impatient."

"Yeah well you're not the only one." Deadpool groaned back, "You never did give me a deadline for grabbing the girl. You'll get her as soon as I do. Guaranteed."

"This is not acceptable. I have plans that involve Miss Stark that i wish to put into action as soon as possible. I suggest you operate with haste, before I decide that more...drastic measures need to be employed. Measures that involve seeing just how far your...abilities...will stretch."

"Okay thanks, love you too." Came Deadpool's response. Something had piqued his interest listening in on what was going on in the tower.

"Do you have a date yet? Spill!" Aly said, leaning against the kitchen counter.

"Tony talked to the mayor. If everything goes to plan, it'll go up Wednesday next week." Mels said, nearly beside herself with excitement.

"That's great! I'm happy for you!" Aly said with a smile. She took a sip from the mug of coffee Mels had practically thrown at her.

"What's in this? It's good!" She exclaimed. Mels suddenly became evasive.

"Oh…nothing. Just some cinnamon, some nutmeg and…my secret ingredient…." Mels said nonchalantly.

Aly instantly became suspicious, narrowing her eyes over the cup.

"What's the secret ingredient?" she asked in a dubious voice, looking at the mug as though the coffee was going to explode.

"Love, Duh…" Mels said with a toothy grin.

Aly rolled her eyes. "I'd be more suspicious if this coffee wasn't the most delicious thing I'd ever tasted."

Mels grinned triumphantly. "Can't beat my homemade coffee!"

* * *

A week went by, and Tony finally got the go-ahead from the Mayor of New York City to launch Mels' satellite.

Aly stood on the roof of the Tower with the rest of the team sans Steve and Bruce. Steve had moved to SHIELD headquarters in Washington, D.C. a few days earlier (Aly had taught him how to use FaceTime on his new iPhone, so he wouldn't miss the launch), and Bruce had claimed that he was too busy in the lab, but had offered his congratulations.

Mels beamed with pride as the rocket carrying her satellite took off from the tower and raced through the clear night sky.

"PARTY!" she crowed, throwing an arm around Tony, who was already nursing a glass of scotch. He motioned for everyone to follow them inside. That's when Aly's phone vibrated in the pocket of her dark blue skinny jeans. There was a new text message from Bruce.

 _Can we talk? Meet me at the Starbucks near Central Park?_

She quickly responded in the affirmative, actually surprised that he'd torn himself away from the lab to go for coffee.

She grabbed the keys to Tony's Audi and told her brother she was going out as she threw on her black leather jacket over the black NASA t-shirt she'd worn for the occasion.

A few minutes later she slid the silver car into a parking spot a few streets away from the Starbucks near Central Park. She locked the car up and began walking towards the coffee shop Bruce had invited her to. Her mind was abuzz, wondering what he wanted to talk about.

That's when she heard the voice…

"HELP!" the male voice shouted. It came from the alleyway about two storefronts down from the coffee shop. The alley was dark, and Aly instantly turned towards it and ran down the alley, intent on helping whoever had yelled.

"Hello?" she called when she got to the brick wall at the end of the alleyway. "Is anyone there?"

"Nobody here but us ghosts, sweetheart!" came a playful voice from behind her.

Aly whirled around to see a figure in a skintight red suit-complete with mask-lounging on top of a dumpster. She couldn't be sure from this distance, but she could swear there were guns on the figure's legs and katanas strapped to its back.

"Wha-who the hell are you!?" She demanded, trying to keep the panic out of her voice.

"Well, most people never find out. They mostly just call me 'aaarrrghhhh' or 'oh please god no!', but you're pretty, so call me Deadpool."

Aly raised an eyebrow. "Deadpool?" she scoffed. "That's quite a name for a dude in a gimp suit."

"Says the girl who knows what a gimp suit is." Deadpool retorted.

"Whatever, what do you want?" she asked. At this point she was terrified. This guy…something was off about him. The way he spoke…he didn't seem sane.

"Well, y'see, Red, here's the thing. A really bad guy, whose name I do not know, has paid me a shit-ton of money to bring you to him…for reasons I also do not know." Deadpool looked off to the side, as though there were someone else in the empty alley with them. "Geez, how could she not have figured that out? They said she was smart!"

"Okay, well…I gotta be somewhere to meet someone so…I think this is where I get off the crazy train." Aly said nervously. She edged towards the entryway, towards the well-lit sidewalk just feet away, when a throwing knife impaled itself into her jacket sleeve, barely missing her arm.

At this point, Aly couldn't stop the scream that escaped her as she took off the jacket as quick as she could and ran towards the entry of the alleyway. An arm wrapped around her waist as Deadpool said "gotcha!" in a singsong voice. There was a prick on the side of her neck, then…nothing…

* * *

"Ohhhhkayy" Deadpool drawled as he stood in front of what looked to be a nondescript white warehouse. He adjusted the crimson-haired girl who was draped over his shoulders and looked up at the camera which was conveniently pointed straight at him.

"I got the girl, now you gonna let me in before she gives me a hernia? Cause dammit she's heavy!" he shouted, throwing a filthy look at the camera for good measure.

The door opened automatically inward, as though beckoning him to come in.

"Whoah…the last creepy warehouse I was in definitely wasn't this cool."

He stepped into a very dimly lit room. In the middle of this room was a gurney, which he gratefully lay the unconscious Stark girl on.

"Take her." Came a voice from the shadows. In the back of his mind, Deadpool could swear he'd known that voice. He brushed the thoughts away as a pair of typical-looking henchmen entered the room and strapped the girl to the gurney before wheeling her out of the room.

"Alrighty then, is this where I collect my check with seven numbers on it?" Deadpool asked to no one.

"Oh Wade, always such a jokester." Came the voice again.

"Is that you, Mr. Smoke-and-Mirrors?" Deadpool asked curiously. The nagging suspicion was now a full on screaming one as he became even more positive that he knew that voice.

"No, no. He's not ready to reveal himself quite yet. No, he's tasked me with collecting the girl. And you really didn't think you were gonna get paid, did you? No, Wade, you're what's called a loose end, and those always need to be tied up."

"Whoah, whoah whoah." Deadpool held his hands up. "If you're planning on tying me up, you at _least_ gotta buy me dinner first." He turned to the side. "Seriously, I'm not a slut!" That's when he noticed about eight red laser dots focused right on his chest. He was fairly certain they belonged to very big guns, which in turn belonged to very skilled snipers.

"Always the talker, aren't you, Wade. Well, before you're obliterated, I do have a question…" A figure stepped into the small circle of light in the room.

"What's my name?"

It was none other than Francis Freeman, otherwise known as Ajax.

" _WHAT THE FUCK!?"_ Deadpool shouted in a rage. "GOD DAMMIT I KILLED YOU! NO! I PUT A BULLET IN YOUR BRAIN!"

Ajax raised an eyebrow. "Yes, and that would've done me in, had it not been for the new…medication I'm on. Wonderful stuff, Extremis, even if they haven't worked out all the uh…kinks." He cracked his neck as the skin of his shoulder seemed to glow reddish-orange under the tight black T-Shirt he wore. "I heeled from that gunshot wound after about three hours."

Deadpool was seeing red, but he knew now was not the time for this fight.

"Well… _Francis_ , I'd love to stay and chat but I really should be running for my life." Deadpool said as he threw the only other thing in the room-a chair-up into the air. Bullets instantly went flying. Only one hit Deadpool though, and it was only a shoulder wound.

"Also, I'm pretty sure you should know…never cross a double crosser!" Deadpool said in a deadly voice.

With that, he turned and ran out the door. He quickly called Dopinder, who pulled up in his taxi within seconds.

"Where to, Mr. Pool?" the upbeat cabbie asked.

"Stark Tower, Dopinder. It's time to do something to make that double crosser quite…cross."

"Whatever you say, Mr. Pool."

* * *

 **HOLY CRAP DID I NEVER THINK THIS CHAPTER WAS GONNA BE DONE! Dang writer's block! Now...if you LIKED this chapter, PUNCH that favorite button IN THE FACE...LIKE A BOSS! AND I WILL SEE ALL YOU DUDES...IN THE NEXT CHAPTER!**

 ***If you know who I'm referencing in that note...you get a cookie.***


	8. Time for some Thrilling Heroics

_Tight_

 _Dark_

 _Cold_

 _A thrumming sound in her ears._

 _Not dark, dim._

 _Tight …everything felt tight._

 _Something around her neck…._

Aly's eyelids fluttered as she took in these new sensations around her. The last thing she recalled was a man in a red suit… Deadpool. She swore the next time she saw him, she would...

Her eyes finally opened. Where was she?

A dark room, a light hanging above her. It looked like a warehouse.

 _Where was she?_

It stank of mold. Equipment of the medical variety surrounded her and lined the walls around her. It looked familiar, but some things looked far beyond her expertise.

"Where the hell am I?!" She yelled, panic reaching its peak in her chest.

"Oh, sleeping beauty finally awakens, does she?" Said a soft, accented voice.

Aly couldn't sit up. Her head darted left and right trying to find the source. Instead, she saw a bald man with a dark jacket. His hands were in his pockets and his smile was poison.

"Welcome, Miss Stark. I assume you want me to say all the boring, cliché things about how if you stay quiet and don't do anything stupid, you won't get hurt. Lucky you I'm not in the habit of lying."

"Don't know about that," Aly commented, "that pretentious outfit and the way you hid in the shadows until I woke up says otherwise."

"Heh, looks like we found another talker, huh?" The man said with a derisive chuckle

"Yeah. I can talk your ear off. Come over, lean close. I'll whisper something sweet, then rip it off with my teeth." Aly responded

The smile grew more poisonous as the man continued to stand there, almost as though he were a cat, and she were the canary he was stalking.

He leaned in close, so close that Aly could smell a sickly cologne emanating off of him. And for some reason…heat.

. "Don't worry. I'm not going to kill you. You're just the bait. But I am not being paid to make sure you stay alive in the trap." He said softly. Aly's skin crawled. "My name is Ajax, and I know we'll get along wonderfully." He said, standing up. He chuckled and walked away, leaving Aly alone once more.

"Ajax sounds fake. Bet he made it up." She said to no one. She knew as soon as she looked at the restraints holding her down that there was no worming her way out of this.

She'd be lying if she said she wasn't afraid. Her family and friends didn't know where she was, she probably didn't have her phone anywhere near her, and that guy was going to hover over her like a vulture. For the first time in a long time, she genuinely felt useless in her situation. The realization scared her even more than before.

She closed her eyes. "Okay, think, girl, think." She said, trying to control her breathing. "You're fucked, but how badly? Gotta get that guy to talk more."

The machines around her did not look like they were helping keep her alive. She blinked her eyes rapidly and felt tired after a moment. Maybe they'd drugged her… keeping her sedated just enough to slow her senses and knock out.

* * *

Tony was just pouring himself a cup of coffee when his phone rang.

"Yeah." He said shortly.

"Mr. Stark, this is Officer Lee with NYPD…"

Tony felt his stomach drop and his heart stop. This call was coming from Aly's phone. For a moment, the officer spoke, but he couldn't hear.

"What happened?" He asked

"I said your sister's phone was found in an alleyway. We were wondering if you had any clue of where she is now." Said Officer Lee "We also found your Audi parked a few blocks away."

"She was supposed to be with Bruce Banner, a close friend of mine." Tony said

That's when Bruce walked out of his room, looking tired. Tony snapped his fingers to get his attention. Still groggy, he meandered his way to the kitchen counter.

"Whatever it is I-I didn't eat the last bag of chips." He said

"What happened with you and Aly yesterday?" Tony whispered, phone still to his ear.

"Me and Aly? I was busy all day and night. I didn't see Aly since breakfast." Bruce recalled

He stopped talking when he saw Tony's expression, a sinking feeling in his gut telling him it had something to do with Aly.

That feeling woke him up faster than any coffee he'd ever had.

"What happened?" Was Bruce's question. Tony held up a finger and turned around.

"I... I was wrong. She went somewhere else last night, unaccompanied. And... Okay... Yes... Thank you... But with all due respect, I think we'll do a better job. You can help. Do your thing. But we'll do better. Probably. Hopefully." He said

"Tony. What the hell is happening?" Bruce asked, his voice tight. Tony noted that his friend seemed to be shaking, and his jaw clenched. He vaguely wondered if it would be wise to tell him everything.

"Avengers!" He yelled out. "Avengers! And Mels."

"What's up, Stark?" Clint grunted as he appeared in the doorway

"And now miraculously, I have been summoned by his Stark-ness." Mels said to her iPad, recording live for her podcast, "To think, I'm on the same level as the Avengers! Whatever he needs must be important, catch you later! Goodnight true believers, good night." The stream was ended when Natasha pressed the stop button as she walked past Mels.

"What is it this time?" Natasha asked, taking a seat.

"Guys...Aly is missing...i think she's in danger."

"What the ass?" Mels said lowly. As everyone took in this new information, she slowly backed out of the room to retreat back to her own.

"Whoa, whoa." Clint said, trying to be rational. "Start from the beginning. Tell us everything."

"After the satellite launch, she left to meet up with Bruce, but he never saw her and now she's gone!" Tony said, voice rising to a yell at the end of his explanation. He looked ready to throttle anyone who looked at him wrong.

"Wait... I was in the lab...all night...I didn't even talk to her all day." Bruce said. His voice was still tight and measured, like he was fighting to keep control.

Natasha put a hand on his shoulder in an attempt to calm him down. He felt himself tense under the touch.

"Where'd she go then?" Clint asked

"Her phone was found in an alley, my car was a few blocks away." Tony said, running his hands rough his hair. Natasha and Clint shared a look. Oh, they knew what happened. They knew who took her.

"Welll..." Natasha began "you're really not gonna like this..."

"She was probably kidnapped by a mercenary that has been staking out the tower for weeks." Clint said flatly. He earned a deadly glare from Natasha, to which he shrugged, "May as well tell them now. No need to beat around the bush." Bruce knocked the archer out of his chair, throwing him onto the floor.

"You knew about this!?" He said, no longer trying to steady his temper.

Natasha pulled out a pistol, leveling it with Bruce. "We knew he was watching, but we didn't know for what. He's never had any record of kidnapping. What were we to expect from a gun for hire?" She said, voice steady. Tony opened his mouth to respond, but was interrupted.

"Stop! Wait! I must confess something!" a voice sounded.

A man in a red and black suit walked into the kitchen, holding his hands up. He quickly turned to Bruce. "It was me. I was the one who ate the last of the chips!" He looked at Natasha, "And Widow... I'm carrying your baby!" Natasha drew another pistol, aiming it at the man.

"Jarvis? Jarvis what the hell?" Tony said, waiting for the AI's response. Clint pulled out his own pistol. Bruce was readying to redirect his rage.

"Sorry to interrupt everything." The man said, walking out of the kitchen, guns following him, "I just wanted to be included…like a needy little kid. Or Neil Patrick Harris in an awards show." He sat on the back of the couch.

"Who are you, how'd you get in, and what the hell are you doing here?!" Tony asked

"The name's-" the man started, but Clint interrupted him

"Freaking Deadpool." He said, "What the hell have you been up to?"

Deadpool let out a nervous laugh. "Well...funny story about th-"

He was cut off by Bruce putting a hand around his throat. "Where is she?" Bruce's voice had taken on a worrying double bass.

"You know, you should really take a throat lozenge for that." Deadpool said. Bruce only tightened his grip. "Okay okay look. You can kill me, but you can't kill me. I am unkillable, in every way. Believe me. I've been known to experiment, especially with a few different partners."

"Start talking. Or I will tear you apart." Bruce's voice was a low snarl now, and he was concentrating very hard on not losing control.

"Then loosen your grip and raise your pitch an octave." Deadpool responded. Bruce tightened his grip, then finally let go. Deadpool gasped, and heaved, falling backwards onto the couch.

"Ha. Huh, oh, this is nice." Everyone heard him say

"Talk!" Bruce yelled. Deadpool propped his head up on the back of the couch, folding his arms under his chin.

"Sure thing, darling." He said, "big shadow boss wanted girl, paid me to get the girl, then suddenly, the biggest bag of dicks named Francis turns out to be alive when I already killed him in the head, and double crossed me. So I'm going to make him quadruple crossed when I double cross him and bring you guys in to find and rescue the girl!"

"How d'you work that out as a quadruple cross?" Natasha asked curiously.

"Math. Two doubles make a quadruple. Duh." Deadpool said

A bullet suddenly found its way in his neck, throwing him off the couch and onto the now broken coffee table.

"Someone has to clean that now. Thank you, Natasha. You killed the one guy who can help me find my sister." Tony said

"Yeah, I mean, who's going to help him now?" Deadpool said, still lying on the table.

"He's still alive!?" Tony asked in shock.

"Weird, huh?" Deadpool said, propping his head up on one hand.

"Remember that bag of rotting dicks i mentioned earlier?"

Everyone nodded tersely.

"Well, this is the story all about how my life got flipped, turned upside down..."

"Skip to the end, or the next one goes through your head." Clint groaned, cocking his pistol. Deadpool sighed and stood up. He stretched his back and rubbed his neck.

"Me and Francis were part of experiments. Now, neither of us can really die." He explained, "Well, he can. He did. But he didn't." Deadpool pulled the bullet out of his neck and dropped it on the floor.

"As fascinating as that is, you still haven't told us where Aly is." Bruce said, resisting the urge to ask questions about what was done to make him that way.

"Welll...about that..."Deadpool drawled, keeping an eye on the guns that were-quite rudely, in his opinion-still cocked and aimed at him.

"Talk, before i empty a clip into you on principle." Clint said, at the end of his rope with the mercenary.

There was a moment of awkward silence. Deadpool cleared his throat.

"I said 'about that'! That's your cue to show up now!" He said loudly

"What-" Tony started. Deadpool held up a finger to silence him. Bare feet ran to the living room.

"I heard yelling and gunshots! What the hell is going on here guy-" Mels said, freezing at the sight.

"Who the hell are you?" Mels asked.

"I'm the guy who was paid to kidnap your best friend, who now wants to help get her back." Deadpool responded. Mels raised an eyebrow then looked at Tony.

"Okay, who is this freak Show?" She asked

"That's Tony Stark, Hon...do you know where you are?" Deadpool just couldn't quit while he was ahead.

Mels looked ready to yell.

"Mels-" Tony started.

"Tony, I got this." Mels responded. She inhaled deeply and glared at the strange man. "Where'd you even get your outfit, the dump?" She walked towards him.

"At least I have more color coordination than you, rainbow dash." Deadpool replied. Slowly, he walked towards Mels.

"Oh ho, you clop much brony?"

"At least my hair can't be mistaken for tin wool."

"At least I don't sound like I have a dick in my mouth."

"At least I have a wife."

"Are you trying to compensate for something? I can imagine you are with those two long swords."

"Oh blow me."

"With all that hot air, you can blow yourself and blow up a doll for yourself."

The two stood toe to toe, Mels glaring at the man who was taller than her. Even with a mask on, she felt he was glaring at her. Deadpool snorted a laugh and looked away.

"You know what, I like you." He said

"Want some coffee?" Mels asked

"Sure. Make it fast. Exposition needs to happen." Deadpool said to the woman's fleeing form.

"Your time's running out, Deadpool...you'd best tell us what you know about where the girl is before the Doc here loses his cool." Natasha said bluntly.

"Actually, fuzzy in the kitchen knows where she is." Deadpool said, taking a seat on the couch. As if on cue, Mels quickly returned with a cup of coffee in one hand, iPad still in the other.

"That's my-" she started

"Special blend? Good! Now you should really tell everyone your secret ingredient in your blend." Deadpool said, taking the mug

"I have no idea what you're talking about. But how would you know anyway?" Mels said nervously

"I know everything...I'm psychic..." Deadpool said before lifting his mask just a bit to bring the coffee to his mouth.

"I find that hard to believe." Mels said flatly.

"Yeah…might be psycho…I always get those confused."

"Mels." Tony said. "What do you know?"

Mels looked at the Avengers, clinging to her iPad. She couldn't make eye contact with Bruce.

"Uh..." She started, "Well, you know. Tracking is what I'm best at, my nanotracers can go undetectable. And uh..." A loud slurp came from Deadpool as he drank his coffee without taking his mask off.

"I put tracers in your coffee." Mels said quickly, before holding paddy up in front of her face.

Suddenly, the assassins' guns went to Mels.

"Tell us exactly how you track us and why you didn't tell us." Clint demanded

"My system runs on a private cloud behind literally one hundred fire walls. Basically Paddy-" Mels shook her iPad, "-and I will be the only ones to find you. How it all works is a trade secret, but I only did it because I was scared, okay? Because I was scared somebody was going to go off on their own or get kidnapped. I was scared something exactly like this was going to happen!" Mels explained, "But I swear, this tech will not fall into the wrong hands. They'll have to pry it out of my cold dead hands! But please don't kill me!"

"Promise me no one can hack your signal and find us...swear." came Natasha's steely voice.

Mels lowered Paddy and looked Natasha in the eye.

"I swear." She said sternly, trying and failing to mask her fear. Natasha and Clint lowered their guns, still looking at Mels with suspicion.

"The secret ingredient of your coffee?" Bruce questioned

"Yeah." Mels answered, "But they're harmless. Completely harmless. Promise."

"Then where the hell is my sister!?" Tony yelled

"I'm trying! The system running everyone's tracers is still booting up, and with all of us in one place, I can't get a lock on her."

"Try Vancouver." Deadpool commented

"Vancouver? Why would she be in Canada?" Clint asked, giving Deadpool a look that clearly said he thought the Merc was full of crap.

"Just a hunch. Francis is a creature of habit, so he'd bring her somewhere familiar. Try Vancouver." Deadpool said

Mels tapped on her iPad, focusing on Canada, British Columbia, Vancouver. One little red dot shined, registering a heartbeat.

"There she is." Mels said, partly amazed Deadpool was right, partly proud her system worked. "What kind of building is it..." enlarging the image of where her friend was being kept brought more surprise. "Guys, you might want to see where she is." Mels turned the pad around to show the "building" to her friends, and Deadpool.

"Is that a..." Bruce trailed off.

Tony snatched the pad away to get a closer look.

"A helicarrier." He said. Natasha pulled it closer.

"A destroyed hellicarrier." She added

"Yeah, partly my bad, but it was already kinda destroyed before I got there." Deadpool said

Mels pulled paddy away.

"Why would she be taken there, though? Do you know who has her?" Natasha asked

"Francis! The bane of my existence, the spandex wedgie I get on cold nights, the fly in my coffee, the British villain in my movie, but not the British villain in anybody else's." Deadpool groaned

"So this Francis guy has her...but why? Is he working for someone or did he just randomly wake up and decide he didn't like Tony...'cause I'm sure he wouldn't be the first." Mels said, throwing the joke in to attempt to lighten the mood. Was she imagining things, or did Bruce's eyes still have a green tinge?

"Sorry, you must be level 20 to gain part of that information. The other part, Francis is working for someone else. I don't ask questions though. I just get paid." Deadpool explained

"Listen, Wade-yes, I know your real name-Aly means a lot to alot of people...any intel you can give us will help." Mels said earnestly. "You must know something helpful."

"Told you everything you needed to hear." Deadpool said, raising his hands

"Ohhh, no..." Tony said, a very dangerous voice. "You're gonna help us get her back...You're gonna tell us all about this Francis character...If not, well...I'm a smart guy, I have lots of tech...we'll find a way to make you killable."

Everyone was shocked. Tony had never in their memories spoken like this, straight up threatening someone.

"Whoa, easy." Deadpool said, holding his hands out to Tony. "You wouldn't want to kill me. Actually, you won't kill me."

"What makes you say that?" Bruce asked

"Cause I have a hostage." Deadpool said

He quickly scooped Mels up over his shoulder and darted out of the room.

"JARVIS, Lock the tower down, NOW!" Tony roared, pressing a button on his watch that sent his Iron Man suit flying towards him. Within seconds, he was encased in his armor and rushing out the door.

"What the hell man?!" Mels yelled, bouncing on the mercenary's shoulder

"Don't worry, I'm not going to kill you. I'm just making sure _they_ don't kill me!" Deadpool said

An alarm sounded through the halls, red lights were flashing around them. Deadpool stopped.

"If I was a hangar, I would be..." he said

"I feel sick." Mels commented before Deadpool kept going down a different hall.

"Sir, they're heading for the hangar." Jarvis reported

"Alright, let everyone else know, too." Tony responded

There was a roar that shook the tower.

"Uh oh." Mels said as they stopped again.

"I don't like the sound of that...D'you think they're gonna find a way to blame that all on me?" Deadpool asked conversationally as he continued running with Mels over his shoulder

"Well, they're not gonna blame it on the weather!" Mels responded

Just then, the floor above them seemed to shake, and, it what seemed to be an explosion sent pieces of the ceiling flying everywhere. Standing in front of them, looking decidedly unhappy, was the Hulk.

"It's an honor to see you, Mr. Hulk. But I bet you didn't count on..." Deadpool reached into a pouch on his belt and threw a handful of sand at Hulks face, "pocket sand!" Hulk rubbed at the sediments in his eyes.

"Tactical retreat!" Deadpool turned around and ran. Hulk roared and charged after. Mels screamed at the sight before they ducked into a stairwell.

"I don't suppose there's a super-secret way to calm him down, is there?" Deadpool asked wistfully. "Like...is there a giant bottle of Xanax somewhere?"

"No, not. Just... no." Mels said, still in shock.

"Alrighty then." Deadpool said, "Then what would get us to the hangar fastest?"

"Ummm..." Mels started, beginning to feel the blind panic bubble up. "Thatwaskindathewaytothehangar" she blurted out all at once

"Behind the green machine?" Deadpool said loudly

"Yep."

"Then we go up and down through the hole he burst through." Deadpool suggested

Just then, the door exploded with a green fist going through it.

"Whatever! Just RUN!" Mels screamed

That's when they found themselves running in the air. Looking up, Mels realized they'd been picked up by Iron Man.

"Superman?" Deadpool asked

"Drop the nerd." Tony said

"Excuse you!" Mels said. The Hulk roared again below them, climbing the stairs. "Don't drop the nerd!"

"Yeah...That's problematic" Tony commented. He dropped them both on the roof of Stark Tower.

"How are we gonna not get killed?" Mels asked, arms around herself to stop herself from shaking

"Well, you're not the one getting killed today." Tony commented, aiming a repulsor at Deadpool.

"You sure about that?" Deadpool asked

Mels looked down to her left. The blade of a katana was hovering close to her neck, she looked down to her right and saw the second in a similar position.

"Like I said before everything went south, I told you everything you _needed_ to hear. What you want and what you need are two very different things. But I am willing to make a deal. I'll let this fun fuzzy genius live to help us track your sister and save her, in exchange I get my chance to help you guys out and kill Francis for good." Deadpool explained. The Avengers were beginning to realize that whatever experiments had been done on Deadpool had left his sanity questionable at best.

"Done." Tony said. "Not like I have much choice, huh?"

"To be honest, I thought that would have been harder. Now, exactly, how do you stop Ruffalo from rampaging?" Deadpool asked, sheathing his swords

"Hawkeye and Banner developed a tranq arrow, so hopefully that works...and doesn't just piss him off more..." Tony explained

As if to punctuate his sentence, an extremely loud, extremely angry roar shook the floor below them followed by a screamed curse and footsteps running up the stairs to the roof.

The Hulk burst onto the roof, a number of darts embedded in his shoulders. He took one look at Deadpool and charged at him.

"Oh boy." Deadpool sighed

The mercenary was grabbed and tossed like a rag doll.

Tony knelt by Mels. He gently pulled her pad out of her hands.

"So, how are you?" He asked

"I..." she started, before she threw up at Tony's feet.

"Better now, I think." she replied. She surveyed the Hulk as he pummeled Deadpool. "He's gonna feel really bad about this..."

Seeming to come to a decision, Mels stood up on shaking legs and shouted for all she was worth. "BRUCE!"

The Hulk turned, eyes falling on her, Deadpool's head enclosed in one of his hands.

"Bruce!" Mels shouted, trying her best not to show that her knees were shaking like crazy. "Beating the crap out of Deadpool is not going to help us get Aly back...you need to focus."

She tentatively took a few steps towards the monster. She looked down when he let out a low growl. She paused and took in a deep breath, and held out her hand to him, before she looked up into his eyes.

"Please." She said softly

The Hulk regarded her hand for a second, his facial expression softening ever so slightly. He held up his humongous hand, allowing Mels to put her hand on it. It was positively tiny compared to his. She kept her face neutral. Suddenly, the Hulk began shaking, and pulled away from Mels, walking towards the wall as he seemed to shrink.

Deadpool was dropped unceremoniously on the ground. Mels ran past him to see the monster become the man once more. She gently started to pull the darts off of him. Tony watched in curiosity. Perhaps the darts weren't the only way to calm the Hulk down. Might want to work on that some more.

"Okay big guy, let's get you to the couch...but maybe into some pants first..." Clint said, hefting the semi-conscious Bruce to his feet and bringing him inside

"But as soon as he wakes up, we're going to Vancouver." Tony added quickly

"I'll arrange a Quinjet." Natasha spoke up. She pulled an IPhone out of her pocket after holstering her pistol. Hawkeye joined them from his perch on one of the high spires at the top of the Tower.

"Good." Tony said, walking over Deadpool to Mels. "And you're coming with us too."

"Okay." She responded, still dazed by everything that had happened within the hour.

* * *

The next time Aly woke up, it was to see Ajax standing over her with a particularly nasty looking smile. There was now an IV in her right arm, and for some reason, she was fairly certain it wasn't there for her health.

"Thanks, but I've had my flu shot already." Aly commented

"Keep up that sarcasm, love...maybe someday you'll be as brave and tough as you make yourself out to be." Ajax's voice was as silky and unaffected as ever as he loaded a syringe

"Let me go and I'll show you how brave and tough I can be." Aly responded. Ajax chuckled before Aly finally felt whatever serum he'd just injected her with enter into her body. It felt like lava oozing into her. The burning sensation lit up every nerve, spreading from her arm into her heart and out to every system.

"What the HELL did you just give me!?" She asked through gritted teeth. She was determined not to give this monster the satisfaction of seeing her in pain.

"A little chemical cocktail, similar to what I have already been experimented on with. But don't worry, it's only the first few hours that feels the most painful." Ajax responded with his mouth voice

"Or...so I've been told." he said with a poisonous smirk. With that, he turned on his heel and strode out of the room. Leaving Aly to feel as though she were burning from the insideout.


End file.
